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Opening remarks
“Nations, like plants and human beings, grow. And if development is thwarted they are dwarfed and overshadowed.”
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- Claude McKay (1889 - 1984), Jamaican poet
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Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members of this August House, our constitution places a duty upon Cabinet to formulate, explain and assess for the National Assembly the Budget of the State. We have spent some months making our assessments and formulating our Budget. I shall now attempt, in a rather shorter time, to explain.
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Namibia is a beautiful country with huge potential. I ask you to imagine our country as if it was a garden. Think of the government as responsible for taking care of the garden, making sure that it grows and flourishes.
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Think of our economic environment in terms of the weather. Sometimes the sun shines and the rains are
plentiful. However, when the weather is unfavourable, the gardener must work even harder to ensure that the plants
continue to thrive.
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The secret of gardening involves knowing when to cultivate the plants, and when to step back and let nature take its
course. Too much interference may stifle the natural diversity and vitality of the garden, but with too little
attention the plants are likely to wither.
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It is my belief that the Budget I am presenting today strikes a balance between two opposing forms of fiscal policy:
interventionism, on the one hand, and laissez-faire on the other. We are providing government support for important
development projects and initiatives. At the same time we are encouraging the active engagement of civil society and
the private sector to work in partnership with government to achieve our country’s development goals.
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Mr. Speaker, my Budget Statement for the financial year 2003/04 sets out some of the policies, programmes and
projects we are implementing to help us achieve growth and prosperity for all our people. These include:
- tax relief measures;
- new initiatives on poverty alleviation and employment creation;
- policies to stimulate economic growth and development;
- initiatives to promote political decentralisation; and
- measures to combat the spread of HIV/ AIDS.
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As background to these policies, I will describe the performance of our economy, our prospects for growth, and recent fiscal developments. But, first let me give a brief assessment of the global and regional economic climate.
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- 118Kb ~ 1 min (38 pages)
