By: Fatou Krubally
The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs yesterday told the National Assembly why there was unusually high budget execution recorded in 2025.
According to Minister Seedy Keita, the unusually high budget execution recorded by the Ministry of Digital Economy in 2025 was largely due to the payment of a social package to staff of the state-owned telecommunications companies, Gamtel and Gamcel.
The clarification came during an oral ministerial statement on the implementation and monitoring of the 2025 National Budget, followed by questions from lawmakers.
During the session, the National Assembly Member for Upper Saloum Hon Alhagie Mbowe raised concerns over wide variations in budget execution among government institutions.
He noted that while some entities had low execution rates, the Ministry of Digital Economy recorded an unusually high level of spending.
“While I see some budget entities, for example the Ministry of Digital Economy, budget execution is about 373 percent, which is extremely high,” the member said.
He further pointed out that the ministry had initially been allocated about D96 million, but its spending reportedly rose to about D358 million, and asked the minister to explain the reason for the sharp increase.
Responding, the finance minister said the overspending was linked to government payments to staff of the national telecom companies.
“The single reason for the over-expenditure of the Digital Economy Ministry was the payment of the social package to Gamtel staff and Gamcel,” he told the Assembly.
The minister added that the payments had to be processed through the Digital Economy Ministry, which explained the unusually high execution rate recorded by the institution.