We are paying the price today
It seems that the slump in oil prices will not be benefiting our local consumers. A tax of Rs 4 per litre will be levied that will be remitted to the COVID Solidarity Fund as evidenced by a regulation signed by the Minister of Commerce on April 4.
We are not surprised. We saw it coming!! But what suprises us is the forced upon solidarity.(Stimulus packages for the corporates, Whisky(sic) for the tourists but taxes for the consumers). It is not a voluntary contribution but a tax which will ultimately find its way in the Budget.
We are paying the price today for the absence of proper provision for fiscal space. We had warned them to tone down their social largesse and prioritise their investment and projects. ( Prestige projects : Metro Express, Safe City, Cote d’Or Multisports Complex, MUGAs…). They did not listen. They preferred to use accounting tricks to hide the real level of the budget deficit which has reached over 7% of GDP if we include all the off-budget expenditures they have shrewdly omitted. And the same about Public Debt, which has reached over 70% of GDP. The truth is that we were already heading towards a crisis before the outbreak of Covid-19. They know that they will not be able to tap IMF funds without the country going through a massive reform programme like in the 80s' structural adjustment programmes. With such irresponsible people at the helm, we cannot but expect the worst yet to come!
