2023-12-09 15:44:48
The deputies of the ninth legislature adopted the state budget for the 2024 financial year. The vote took place this Friday, December 8, 2023 at the Palace of Governors in Porto-Novo.
It was by 82 votes for and 27 against that the parliamentarians validated the draft State budget for the management of the year 2024. This draft budget with a social vocation is balanced in resources and costs at more than 3199 billion CFA francs. “The State budget thus voted remains in line with the government’s orientations, those of continually increasing revenue collection without favoring the creation of new taxes and of strengthening, from year to year, the budgetary space in favor of social and investments”explained Gérard Gbénonci, president of the finance committee at the opening of the plenary.
The state budget for 2024 also includes some innovations compared to previous years. Among the new measures contained in the finance law, there is, among others, the exemption from late payment penalties granted to taxpayers in the informal sector who spontaneously subscribe for the first time to declarations in regulation of businesses carried out for previous financial years, the abolition of the tax on the export of scrap metal and ferrous by-products, the extension of the exemption from customs duties and VAT on agricultural equipment.
The parliamentary debate made it possible to make amendments to the project submitted by the government. 36 amendments out of 38 were thus taken into account in the final document voted on by parliamentarians. Submitted to a vote, the budget was approved by the deputies of the Progressive Union Le Renouveau and those of the Republican Bloc party, both parties supporting government action. The deputies of the “Les Démocrates” party, for their part, voted against.
“Inclusive” and “dissatisfaction”
The state budget for the 2024 financial year as adopted will allow the government to better meet the expectations of the population. It was the Minister of State for the Economy and Finance who gave this assurance at the end of the vote on the finance law.
“We ended up with a completely inclusive budget,” rejoiced Romuald Wadagni during his press briefing. “We had a lot of contributions from all the deputies, particularly from the Democrats party,” explained the Minister of State. In fact, Romuald Wadagni did not hide his surprise at the results of the vote in a context where all the deputies of the “Les Démocrates” party voted against the budget. “The only surprise of the day is the result of today’s vote where the honorable deputies of the “Democrats” party surprised us with the decisions they took during the session”regretted the Minister of Economy and Finance.
On the side of the opposition party, the choice to vote against is completely accepted. Eric Houndété, deputy member of the “Les Démocrates” party, explains: “We have noted a lot of dissatisfaction with the government’s overall policy (…) These dissatisfactions did not allow us to vote for this budget and we do not regret it”.
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