The Finance Minister Felix Mlusu had on Friday presented the 2020/21 National Budget in Parliament which has been pegged at K2.2 trillion. The education sector has been allocated the biggest chunk of a whooping K384.5 billion which is 21.6 percent of the total budget, representing 5.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The education funds will aid the wages and salaries of teachers, operations for primary and secondary schools, development projects in all relevant education organisations in addition to public universities”, said Mlusu.
The agriculture sector emerged second after education with an allocation of K354 billion, with the fraction of K150 billion filtered to the Affordable Input Programme (AIP) which has currently replaced Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP).
Small holder farmers which are estimated to be in the region of 4.2 million will benefit from the purchase of fertilizer at a subsidized price of K4,900. Each farming household will purchase two 50kgs bags of this fertilizer. The AIP implementation will be using the electronic system in contrast to the paper coupons which was previously used in the FISP.
The Health and Transport sectors got an allocation of K204 billion and K150 billion respectively. The budget projects total grants at K255.7 billion which represents 3.6 percent of GDP and an increase of K243 billion in payment interest in the 2019/20 budget.
