WINDHOEK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's finance minister is expected to announce more cuts when he presents the 201617 budget review Thursday.
The country that is implementing two developmental projects -- the Harambee Prosperity Plan and the National Development Plan (NDP) 5, is walking a tight economic rope with desires to improve people's lives on one hand and reduce spending as much as possible on the other.
Under the Harambee plan, Namibia should provide housing, potable water, create jobs and alleviate poverty in the next four years, while the NDP is used to gauge progress towards the country's Vision 2030.
The nation's fifth NDP is currently being put together to run concurrently with the Harambee plan. The NDPs are under the economic planning ministry whose minister Tom Alweendo is on record saying that the budget cuts will impact negatively on both the Harambee plan and development plans.
Namibia has an 8 billion Namibian dollars (584 million U.S. dollars) budget deficit and had its economic outlook revised from stable to negative by Fitch Rating in early September this year.
Finance minister Calle Schlettwein has already appropriated more than 63 million Namibian dollars from all the ministries early this year.
This time, Schlettwein is targeting close to 5 billion Namibian dollars from the three-year rolling 66 billion Namibian dollars budget.
Schlettwein has said to afford the salary increases, the government needs to look into where the budget will be cut.
However, these cuts are coming when the government is running the Harambee Prosperity Plan, launched in March this year by President Hage Geingob, whose success depends on adequate funding.
Economic planning minister Alweendo said the government needs to be careful when deciding the cuts so as not to bring the economy to a stand still.
The minister admits that the cuts will indeed impact negatively on the Harambee plan.
"If you kill expenditure completely, the economy is going to be standing still, and this would put us in an even deeper hole, and for you to come out of that hole it will be much more difficult," he has said.
The budget cuts done earlier this year have already had a negative impact on several departments, among them the safety and security ministry under which the police falls.
Inspector General of the Namibian police Lieutenant-General Sebastian Ndeitunga said the budget cuts will ground the force.
"If we don't buy vehicles, there will be problems. Some police services will be paralyzed for three consecutive years," Ndeitunga said.
The other hard hit is the youth and sports ministry that was forced to allocate 38.6 million Namibian dollars among 50 sports codes.
This has left the Namibia Football Premier League groping for sponsorship and it is not clear when the season will start for lack of funding.
Apart from sports being hard hit, the budget cut to the ministry also affected training. Already, the youth minister Jerry Ekandjo, said four youth skills training centers saw 117 less youth graduating.
Officials demoted for not properly reporting assets
China has further strengthened asset declaration regulations on government officials Air Max 90 Mens Sale , demanding they disclose their families' overseas assets to the Party.
The General Office of the State Council and the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee have amended regulations on officials' personal information declarations and provided penalties for violations, the State Council said Wednesday on its website.
The revised regulations state that officials from deputy county level up are required to report information, including their marital status Air Max Mens Sale , overseas travel, criminal records, wages and other earnings Nike Air Max 2017 Sale Clearance , real estate holdings, stocks, funds Nike Air Max 2018 Sale Clearance , insurance and other investments.
The new version states that Chinese officials must now inform the Party if their spouse or children have been continuously working outside the Chinese mainland for more than a year.
Officials are now required to declare their own overseas bank accounts or investments as well as those of their spouse and children. They also have to declare the occupation of their daughters- or sons-in-law, especially if they are running their own businesses.
The new regulations expand coverage to leading members in government-funded groups and public institutions, as well as middle and senior managers of State-owned enterprises.
It also clarifies the penalties for violators.
According to the regulations Nike Air Max 90 Sale Clearance , officials demoted for failing to truthfully report their personal property and wealth will be held back from promotion for two years.
It also said that it would be a serious violation if officials declare that the value of their investment is 300,000 yuan ($44,000) less than the actual value Nike Air Max Sale Clearance , or property 50 square meters less than the actual size.
Zhuang Deshui, a professor from Peking University, said that the penalties strengthen the regulations.
"It provides a legal basis for the regulations Air Max 2017 Sale Clearance , which will deter officials and assure its strict implementation," Zhuang added.
"Many officials still violate the regulations due to a weak penalty system. They do not think their careers will be damaged over violations," Zhuang said.
Comprehensive supervision
Besides personal property and wealth Air Max 2018 Sale Clearance , China has also enhanced the reporting system, as the Supreme People's Procuratorate has encouraged people to anonymously report officials up to members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the highest level of officials in China's cadre system Air Max 90 Sale Clearance , the Beijing Youth Daily reported.
Since 2010, officials at deputy county level or higher have been required to report their personal information across 14 categories, including marital status Air Max Sale Clearance , t.