Supervision drives NPC’s N$182 million budget

The National Planning Commission’s (NPC) N$182.8 million budget for the 2021/22 financial year aims to streamline government objectives with the country’s development aspirations.

The biggest chunk of NPC’s budget, which amounts to N$125 million, is reserved for supervision, coordination and support services.

Of this, N$93.5 million is a subsidy transfer to the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) for its operational expenditure, according to presidential affairs minister Christine //Hoebes’s budget presentation in the National Assembly on Monday.

Also high on the agenda is the review of Namibia’s Vision 2030 development plan “to evaluate progress made towards the achievement of Namibia’s long-term objectives, and establish a solid baseline for future development up until 2030 and beyond,” the minister noted.

NPC has in addition prioritised the monitoring, evaluation and coordination as key features in planning and development aimed to mobilise, coordinate and manage external development resources and to develop and maintain a national integrated monitoring and evaluation system for the whole government.

Moreover, a project delivery unit was established to aggressively assist in developing, monitoring and guiding the implementation of the various projects under Harambee Prosperity Plan II, //Hoebes said.

An amount of N$34.7 million is set aside for this programme, of which N$ 20 million is reserved for the project delivery unit.

Planning

In addition, macro-economic planning, which entails the development of national development plans, research on socio-economic issues and macroeconomic policy analysis and modelling is a chief priority for the commission.

An economic development conference for 2021 is on the cards, while the sixth national development plan (NDP6) will be formulated.

“The programme planned to conduct and complete the 2020 Economic Report and undertake relevant research’s studies such as the Nation Human Development Report, Cost of Hunger Report, Namibia Multiple Poverty Index and Labour Market Outlook,” the minister said.

To achieve these targets, N$10 million is set aside.

Another NPC target is to ensure that NDP5 is implemented and projects are aligned to the national priorities as outlined in NDP5 through regional and sectoral planning and policy coordination.

This programme was allocated N$12.7 million, and aims to strengthen regional planning and coordinate the formulation and review of socio-economic public policies to ensure consistency with national objectives and priorities as well as to evaluate policy effectiveness. - Nampa