Hargeisa (SD) – In today’s session of the House of Representatives, chaired by the Speaker of the House, Mr. Abdirizak Khalif Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Sa’ad Ali Shire, read out the general budget estimates before the House, outlining the contents of the budget presented to the House.

Minister Saad Ali Shire, outlined the current government’s priorities and projects in the Budget.

Members of the House of Representatives, who will be the first to present the budget estimate, asked more than 70 questions the Minister of Finance and officials of the Ministry accompanying the proposed budget and the manner in which it was prepared.

Somaliland Minister of Finance Dr. Saad Ali Shire, took for 4 consecutive hours in answering the tough questions from lawmakers about the national budget.

The minister said the 2022 budget has increased by 17%.

Lawmakers, on the other hand, focused on the various realities in the country and the proposed budget, with some PM’s asking about their constituencies circumstances, such as the drought and how there was not much money allocated in the budget.

Finally, the Speaker of the House of Representatives handed over the budget estimates to the House Finance Committee to analyze the budget, and the House is set to debate it on Sunday next week.