Seedy Keita, the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, informed the National Assembly on Monday that, as part of a larger public expenditure that also included salaries and domestic debt obligations, the government spent D7.23 billion on subsidies and transfers to subvented institutions during the 2025 fiscal year.
Mr. Keita provided an analysis of the 2025 budget’s implementation, stating that the main factors influencing spending under the Gambia Local Fund (GLF) were employee compensation, transfers and subsidies, and interest payments on domestic debt.
The minister stated that “The main drivers of GLF expenditure include spending on personnel emoluments, subsidies and transfers to subvented institutions, and domestic debt interest,” the minister said. “Personnel emoluments amounted to GMD 9.58 billion, whilst subsidies and transfers amounted to GMD 7.23 billion.”
According to Mr. Keita, the total GLF expenditure and net lending for 2025 came to GMD 31.36 billion, or 97% of the yearly budget that was approved.
The minister claims that the numbers also show that the great majority of public expenditures during the year were funded by the government’s internally generated earnings.
“The overall GLF expenditure and net lending for the end of the 2025 period amounted to GMD 31.36 billion, which represents 97 percent of its budget for the year,” he said. “This shows that our internally generated revenues cover 91 percent of total expenditure during the review period.”
The minister pointed out that current spending was more than the budget that had been approved, mostly as a result of rising salary, transfer, and interest payment costs.
“Current expenditure represents 103% of its approved annual budget of GMD 28.28 billion, which amounted to GMD 29.20 billion for the period under review,” Mr. Keita said. “However, it is GMD 7.56 billion above the previous year’s outlay.”
However, capital expenditures were not as high as anticipated for the year. According to Mr. Keita, capital expenditures came to GMD 2.16 billion, or 57% of the GMD 3.78 billion approved yearly budget.
In comparison to the prior year, he said, capital expenditures decreased.
“Capital expenditure decreased by GMD 521.18 million, or 19 percent, compared to the corresponding period a year ago,” he stated, citing the usage of National Roads Authority (NRA) tax monies to fund infrastructure development initiatives.
