The government of Gambia is set to spend D524 million on fertilizer subsidy for this year’s farming season. The ministry of finance and economic affairs made the announcement and observed that recently in a presser, indicating that the Gambian economy in 2020 marginally contracted by 0.2%, but it is better than the economy of sub-Saharan countries which recorded an average contraction of 3%.
The ministry disclosed that the government decided to maintain the price of fertilizer at D700 per 50kg for a second year in a row despite rising fertilizer prices in the international market. This was in an effort to one of the most vulnerable communities.
Stimulate economic
“This subsided price translates to a cost to government of D524M for this farming season compared to a subsidy of D201M in 2020. In addition, the groundnut subsidy for 2020/2021 cropping season amounts to D56.6 million,” said the ministry.
“The government stimulus package of D2.8 billion also helped to stimulate economic activities and eased the impact on growth. The economy is expected to grow by 4.9% in 2021 with some recovery in the tourism sector anticipated in the fourth quarter of this year,” the ministry added.
During the peak of the pandemic, the Ministry said their development partners provided assistance in the form of budget support equivalent to 4.7% of GDP, or D4.6 billion. It added that a lot of supportive policies were taken to dampen the impact of the pandemic, including the 20% reduction of the CIF reference value of essential commodities and non-application of penalties for late filing of tax returns.
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