Titbits : Budget 2014 ; The Central Bank’s Macroprudential Measures; The Poverty Trap

Budget 2014 arouses at best mixed feelings. It attempts to give the impression that under a very difficult economic environment, the Minister of Finance has been able to walk a very tight rope to achieve fiscal consolidation and at the same time try to boost economic growth and improve living standards. It includes various measures which are positive and which we approve of. But the budget is also deceitful as it has concealed the negative aspects while highlighting the positive measures.

Titbits: MOFED: The merger Revisited ; The NAIRU Debate: Growth and Unemployment; Tackling the real estate bubble; The Budget: Prioritized expenditures

MOFED: The merger Revisited

Although the merger of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MOFED) with the Ministry of Finance was announced in December 2003, efforts at an effective merger of the two cadres started in 2006. The whole idea about the merger emerged with the priorities set out in the 2000-01 New Economic Agenda.

The State of our Public Finances

If we want to comment on the state of our public finances, a cursory look at the budget balance as presented by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is not enough. We need to go deeper.  First of all, we need to consolidate the figures;  the off budget funds-the Special Funds- will have to be integrated to the budget  to generate adjusted comprehensive fiscal aggregates.