Budgetary help: Minister Rajoanarimampianina’s speculations

In 2010, the HAT chancellor of the checker appears confident as for an end to the crisis. It is obviously based on a political settlement. The Treasury secretary is convinced that the legislative elections to be organized by the imposed authorities are going to break the deadlock. “The crisis is not going to last to the end of 2010”, argued Hery Rajaonarimampianina. International recognition will be acquired together with the renewed help cash flow”.

The HAT addicted to turning out “self capitalizing” predictions actually proved to have had little success so far. Concerning the Treasury secretary, prediction comes up to speculation. For being compelled to produce a relatively good looking report, Hery Rajaonarimampianina is putting his money on a very much uncertain political factor. Somehow, it looks like playing a Russian roulette round while believing that who knows who had necessarily removed all bullets from the cylinder. In any case, observers can only express their amazement at such an abundance of pragmatism in the budget plan’s making up, sharply contrasting with its outstanding lack of realism.

A year 2010’s budget plan without foreign financial support is certainly not sustainable. Regardless of the risk of making economic propaganda, the Treasury secretary integrated some into the first finance law draft adopted by an order and granted legality by the Constitutional Court. However, if the cash flow was really expectable as an outcome of the legislative elections, foreign financial support could have been kept out of the draft, in order to be genuinely integrated by the new national assembly’s forthcoming vote of an amendment to the finance law once it would have been officially granted.

This virtual money that inflates the year 2010’s state budget amounts to 1200 billions of ariary. Half of them, 600 billions of ariary, are loans, and the other half is not to be repaid”, specified the Treasury secretary. This foreign support is basically dimmed to be invested in development projects. Could they come true, they would be managed by the Malagasy part and appear in budgets allocated to the concerned ministries. Already in 2009, their absence had a negative impact on the economic growth and on the regional development.

The State can survive even with 60% of its budget being amputated. Home tax and custom returns will be supporting the administration although its life style might significantly be restricted. The austerity policy is, more than ever, the year 2010’s trademark. Civil servants’ wages are insured. The government even took the liberty to apply some tax reductions, for example the tax removal on farming equipment. The continuation of the tourist visa right suppression represents a 20 billions of ariary wide gap, but it is worth it, for the sake of reviving an agonizing sector

The Finance Ministry celebrated the new year’s eve in the state of the art. Some 2000 agents have been invited to a large scale party in a luxurious place in Ivato. A bad start for austerity policy, isn’t it? Minister Rajaonarimampianina moderated the opinion, saying that state chesses are doing well, for such little things.