LCCI Commentary on the 2023 National Budget Speech

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28 February 2023

?LCCI Commentary on The Budget Speech

The LCCI is filled with hope and admiration, while at the same time feels obliged to come onboard on a national call by the government as portrayed in today’s speech. The budget reiterated and confirmed the current government promise to focus on private sector growth.

The leadership experience of the current government is portrayed in the belief to recalibrate institutional settings, governance, policies, expenditure and accountability frameworks to align with their private sector-let growth mantra. We expect therefore that the budget will be approved and operationalized way before June, unlike in the previous eras. We expect to see procurement requirements and procedures to be accommodative of local private sector environment, and speedy resolutions alongside them as well.

We welcome a promise to building local value chains especially following the Finance Minister’s mid-term pronouncement that government will be focusing on sourcing from manufacturers and producers. We are also hopeful that more millionaires will emerge from our mining sector now that the government is committed to promoting mining beneficiation. We expect therefore that our local manufacturers would have easier access to the LNDC owned factory shells as it happens with foreign investors to that.

In light of infrastructure backlog, the excess liquidity in the financial sector amid scarce bankable projects, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks or governance structures should then be fast-tracked in order to enable the private sector to contribute in the development of the local economy and its localized value chains.

The initiative that would boost the availability of financial products and business support services for small and medium sized enterprises is a very welcome gesture indeed, more so as it would target women and youth in this era of deficient job opportunities. An entrepreneurial hub will go a long way in addressing the needs of the startups.

Our members in the agriculture sector face lack of financing opportunities and insurance services, and the incentives proposed by the minister provide hope to this group of people who provide bread on our tables.

With all those good news though, most of the businesses have gone under due to non-payments by government and we would really request government to stick to its word of paying businesses on time. This may also point to a need for the establishment of invoice discounting mechanisms in order to save our small businesses. Violent crime is also getting out of hand, affecting the business people of this country, and would need to be reined in.

On Behalf of LCCI,

Mr. Fako Hakane -Secretary General