By Thomas Dixon
FREETOWN, Feb. 02 (SALONE TIMES) – One of the key promises in the SLPP New Direction Government Manifesto is to ensure that the debts of Sierra Leone both domestic and external are reduced.
“Domestic debt was Le3.364 billion in June 2016 and expected and expected to increase to Le4.009 billion in 2017 and Le4.568 billion in 2018,” the SLPP stated in the New Direction Manifesto.
A statement that was further accentuated by President Bio in his maiden address to Parliament in 2018 after he won the 2018 election.
Fast forward to 2020, the Auditor General Report has stated that debts-both local and external have increased hugely.
For this story SALONE TIME focus on the domestic debt that stood at 4.5 Billion Leones in 2020 but has reason to 7 Trillion Leone in just three years.
The total outstanding public domestic debts of the Government debts is Le7 trillion in 2020 which by the end of 2019 wasLe5.32 trillion –
According to the Auditor General Debt Management servicing in the annual recurrent budget represents a significant value and is considered material in audit terms.
That public debt liability is a major government liability and critical sustainability issue for the Government of Sierra Leone and that it requires comprehensive, accurate and timely records for good management.
“Our audit procedures to confirm the completeness and accuracy of debts recorded in the public accounts involved requesting confirmations from external creditors, and obtaining schedules detailing the movement of individual debts during the year,” the Auditor General stated.
