Conflicting figures for the balance between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank

English - Saturday 14 May 2022 الساعة 02:23 pm
Aden, NewsYemen, special:

Financial reports issued by the Central Bank and others by the Ministry of Finance revealed a clear discrepancy in the numbers regarding the reality of revenues and expenditures during the past year.

The government announced in mid-April that it would submit the 2022 budget to Parliament without disclosing its details or publishing it on the media, only stating a general figure for revenues and expenditures, as well as the estimated budget deficit.

According to what was published by "Saba" agency, the financial statement submitted by the government estimates the total public resources for the fiscal year 2022 at 3 trillion and 243 billion riyals, while the total expenditures are estimated at 3 trillion and 645 billion riyals, while the deficit in the draft budget is estimated at 401 billion riyals.

The details of these figures were presented in part by Finance Minister Salem bin Brik in the budget's financial report, which he read out to members of the House of Representatives at the parliament's session in late April to discuss the budget.

Where the minister said that the total public resources during the current year 2022 are estimated at 3243 billion riyals, an increase over the last year 2021 AD by about 1086 and by 50%, stressing that it does not include any grants or external loans.

According to the minister, oil and gas revenues come at the top of revenues by about 1264 billion riyals, followed by tax revenues by about 1259 billion and 414 billion riyals, revenues from customs, in addition to the government's share of surplus profits of 213 billion riyals and self-revenues by about 90 billion riyals.

While it is estimated that expenditures during the current year will reach about 3645 billion, an increase of 533 billion over last year, at a rate of 17%, and the most important revenues are distributed between wages and compensation for workers with 1625 billion, followed by expenditures on goods and services with 759 billion, and subsidies and grants by about 928 billion, expenses of unclassified fronts.  53 billion, and the contribution to the capital of economic units and the repayment of loans and subscriptions amounted to 278 billion.

It is noteworthy that these figures presented by the Minister of Finance contradict the figures contained in the last financial report issued by the Central Bank and published on its official website for the month of March 2022, in which he presented a comparison between revenue and expenditure figures during the years 2020 and 2021 .

The bank’s report says that the revenues of 2021 amounted to only 1096 billion, while according to the minister’s speech, they amounted to 2157 billion riyals, compared to expenses of 3112 billion, while the bank’s report says that they are only 1628 billion.

It is noticeable that the reference in the bank’s report was on the sidelines of the tables in which these numbers were mentioned as “preliminary actual data”, which means that it is based on what was supplied and disbursed through the bank, which reminds us that a large segment of revenues remain outside the control of the Central Bank.

The same report also provided contradictory information without clarifying it, as the report says that oil and gas revenues during the past year amounted to only 397 billion riyals, but it indicates in another chapter that oil and gas exports during the past year amounted to one billion and 400 million dollars, i.e.  Equivalent to about 1400 billion riyals.