A new survey by the Economic Association of Namibia has revealed that 60.2% of Namibians believe the government’s budget allocations are not aligned with national development priorities.
The 2024 Public Perspectives Allocation and Effectiveness of Namibia’s National Budget survey highlighted public concerns over spending priorities.
The survey respondents highlighted that underspending on critical areas, disproportionate budget allocations compared to the actual needs, misprioritisation of health and education, and the ineffective use of public funds led to the misalignment of budgetary allocations to national development.
“A notable majority of survey respondents (60.2%) hold the view that government budget allocations are not in alignment with national development priorities,” the survey said.
The survey further queried respondents on which areas required more budget allocation to enhance national development.
22,1% respondents value economic development, with health care at 21.3% ranked second on public perspective priority area and education receiving 20.5% ranked third and infrastructure at 13.9% ranked fourth in the priority focus areas for national development.
“Most respondents (22.1%) prioritised economic development as the top category requiring more budget allocation, followed by healthcare (21.3%), education (20.5%), and infrastructure 13.9%,” EAN noted.
Furthermore, the respondents highlighted the importance of allocating a greater portion of the budget to social welfare as opposed to police, defence and administration combined.
“Social welfare requires more funding than police, defense, and administration, put together, indicating a strong public preference for increasing social welfare programs,” EAN said.
The EAN public perspective survey noted that 29% of respondents prioritised economic development and infrastructure development combined.
From the survey, 16% of respondents prioritised economic development and 13% of respondents valued infrastructural development.
“The survey respondents indicated that economic development (16%), when combined with infrastructure development (13%) should receive the highest budget allocation of 29%,” the findings read.
The survey respondents further ranked education second in priority with 18% and health third with 17% budget allocation.
“Second in place in order of priority is education with 18%, while health is in third place with 17%,” EAN highlighted.
The survey emphasised the importance of prioritising funding for revenue-generating sectors to boost the economy, while still recognising the importance of education and health as economic enablers.
“While the public recognises education and health as important economic enablers, the results show a recognised need to boost funding to sectors that directly stimulate economic growth,” EAN.
Namibia’s budgetary allocations over the past three decades have primarily focused on three key areas, namely education, health and defence.
