Mogadishu (HOL) – Somali cabinet ministers have approved a nearly 1 billion budget for the 2023 fiscal year following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Tuesday.
The $967.7 million national budget will be raised through domestic revenue and international grants, with domestic revenue expected to be $283.3 million in 2023, an increase of $36.3 million from this year.
As with previous years, the majority of Somalia’s budget (70%) will be providedd by donors.
Minister of Finance, Dr. Elmi Mohamud Noor, thanked the council for approving the budget, which will now be summited to the parliament for approval in a joint session of the Lower and Upper Houses.
During the meeting, the cabinet ministers also approved the defence agreements between the governments of Somalia and Uganda and Somalia and Sudan regarding defence cooperation.
The cabinet did not elaborate on the details of the agreements; however, the Ministry of Defence emphasized that the pacts would improve the rebuilding of the Somali National Army.
Due to the protracted length of last year’s elections, Somalia’s 2022 budget was not approved by the cabinet until late May and wasn’t ratified by parliament until June 30, 2022.
Somalia earmarked a total of$ 918.7 million for 2022.
