By Saio Marrah
Budget Advocacy Network (BAN) and other civil society organisations are set to hold the government accountable for the implementation of the 283 million dollars for Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
SDR is an international reserve asset created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that are disbursed to countries during global crisis like pandemic and it is based on the quota a country has contributed to the IMF that will determine the amount of money it will receive.
Speaking at an inception meeting held at their office in Freetown with other CSOs and media practitioners on Wednesday 19th January 2021, the Coordinator of BAN, Abu Bakarr Kamara, said their aim is to first engage and sensitize the general public on the use of SDRs and to build a coalition on two things; “one the transparent and accountable use of SDRs given to Sierra Leone by IMF for which Sierra Leone received 283 million dollars as reported in the 2022 budget. Secondly is to generate evidence on the impact of SDRs and use that evidence to work with regional and international partners to advocate on the reallocation of the unused SDRs to the people of Sierra Leone,” He said.
He said their partnership with the other CSOs and media practitioners will include building capacity on the public debt as well as supporting the government on the SDRs.
BAN Coordinator while commending government for accepting their proposal on the use of funds in the 2022 annual budget indicating how it will spend the fund as well as reporting on a quarterly basis on how the fund is expended. He also called on the government to keep to its promise for the quarterly reporting on the use of the SDRs. He also disclosed that they will capitalize on that quarterly reporting for accountability purposes.
According to the 2022 budget, the government intends to spend the SDRs to boost foreign reserves, an amount of Le450 billion will be on-lent to the Government to provide additional fiscal space in 2022 for spending on poverty-related areas, including transfers to NACOVERC, school feeding, hygiene packages for school going girls, national tree planting, construction of boreholes and water supply facilities in communities, as well as payment of arrears, among others.
The purpose of the creation of SDRs is to enhance international reserves to access more financing, increase foreign investment and contribute to the stability of the purchasing power of the national currency.
Participants at the meeting made salient contributions that range from how they will engage the government on the distribution of the funds to the various Ministries, Department, and Agencies (MDAs), as well as the government, and explain to the public what and how the different projects are being executed.
As a way of strengthening government accountablility measures, BAN will also conduct residential training on SDRs and Public debt with other CSOs and media practitioners.
Copyright © 2022 Politico (21/01/22)
