Breaking ground

Blame for missing the submission deadline for the 2010 budget is still being tossed around between the finance ministry and the opposition. To avoid a similar situation next year, Finance Minister Rayya Hassan last month made good on a promise to put forward the 2011 budget for cabinet’s submission to Parliament in October ahead of the constitutional deadline, something she considers “a major achievement.” The 2011 budget grew out of many of the assumptions and data used for the 2010 submission.  It also includes targets for countrywide development plans and total deficit reduction, with the overriding objectives being development of core infrastructure to boost economic growth; increased access to, and quality of, social services, education and healthcare; identifying and honoring all payments in arrears; increased tax efficiency; strengthened security; and, in the absence of actual debt reduction, controlling the debt-to-GDP growth rate and reducing the deficit.  In a first for