WINDHOEK, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein said the Namibian government retains the ability to honor its obligations and to implement the budget, despite the challenging economic environment.
The minister said this Thursday in Windhoek when addressing the country's economic issues as well as progress on government contractual obligations.
"The government is conscious of the hardship which the tight cash flow poses in the form of delayed payments to service providers, program implementation and related economy-wide impacts. Hence our resolve to front-load and accelerate settlement of especially the outstanding invoices," he said.
According to Schlettwein, in total more than 60 percent of the total outstanding invoices budgeted for have been honored within the first quarter of the budget year.
"It is the government's intention to accelerate and settle the remaining balance of the budgeted outstanding invoices over the course of July 2017, on the basis of the budget revenue and proceeds of the budget deficit financing," he added.
He said budgeted outstanding invoices for services rendered to the government will be prioritized to ease the cash flow burden of operators, support job retention and boost economic activity.
Furthermore he cautioned service providers who are found to defraud government of taxpayers and threatened to blacklist and discontinue their contracts.
Meanwhile the minister remains optimistic that growth prospects in the country will gain more traction as the year progresses, with increased activity in the mining, agriculture and tourism sectors anchoring the outlook.
