MONROVIA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The Liberian government has submitted the country's Proposed Budget for the fiscal year 20162017 to legislators for approval consistent with law.
Minister of Finance and Development Planning Boima S. Kamara presented the budget on behalf of the government in Monrovia, the country's capital city on Monday.
"My team and I have come today to present you this Proposed Budget which we believe outlines and captures our country's priorities in the best possible way given the constraints, facing the country," Kamara said.
Total projected revenue envelop is 555.9 million U.S. dollars comprising of 495.5 million dollars for core domestic revenue, 30.2 million dollars as grant and 30.1 million dollars as contingent domestic revenue.
"We have endeavored to keep social spending on health at 77 million dollars, education at 83 million dollars and social development spending at 10.5 million dollars," the minister told lawmakers.
"Additionally, we have allocated 20 million dollars toward elections; 10 million dollars for United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) drawdown, 5 million dollars for agriculture; 15 million dollars on road construction, 3 million dollars for road maintenance fund and 1.5 million dollars toward the airport runway rehabilitation," he said.
He said with the approval of the legislature, government intends to seek donor funding either in grant or loan to help underwrite these expenditure.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in a communication to the legislature requested two weeks extension, to complete the proposed budget which Kamara acknowledged has been challenging due to the economic situations facing the country.
The minister told lawmaker that the slowness of economic recovery from the shocks of Ebola coupled with the global decline in commodity prices affected the country's two primary export commodities, iron ore and rubber.
"Our expenditure demand has come under pressure from the need to prepare for 2017 elections as well as support our security forces to take over from UNMIL which has already begun to draw down," he added.
He said these are imperatives which cannot be compromised as "governance and security will provide the space we need in order to conduct other businesses." Kamara said under these conditions, it was extremely difficult to balance the budget and that was why an extension was necessary.
BEIJING Cheap Packers Hats , Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- China has began to recount and record the names of the country's cities, rivers and mountains in a bid to update its geographic database.
The national census of places is aimed at standardizing the use of place names, better serving the people and enhancing the government's management, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) Cheap Packers Hoodies , which is in charge of the huge project, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The huge project will target all places and geographic entities, including rivers and mountains, on the Chinese mainland Cheap Packers Shirts , excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, the statement said.
China conducted the last place name census from 1979 to 1986, recording more than 5.5 million names.
Many names have changed in the past 28 years Cheap Packers Jerseys , but the current geographic database still uses records of old names, according to the statement. Moreover, many new places, such as cities Bart Starr Hat , streets, airports and tourist resorts, have been created while others have vanished during China's fast modernization.
Some names of places or streets sound "weird" or Western, which makes people feel confused Kenny Clark Hat , according to Gong Puguang, deputy minister of civil affairs.
In some areas, the naming of places are redundant and chaotic. For example, a city may have six New Village roads Jamaal Williams Hat , Gong said.
The census will help authorities correct some "non-standard" place names and set up clear road and place signs for the people's convenience.
Places that are known to people but lack an official name will also be officially named and recorded.
The census is scheduled to be completed in June 2018 and the names will be collected into a special place name dictionary.
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by Julius Gale
JUBA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan Saturday called for unconditional release of 14 officials who were captured by armed rebels on Wednesday near the border with Ethiopia.
Dickson Gatluak, a military spokesman for the SPLA-IO splinter group under First Vice President Taban Deng Gai, said armed youth linked to his exiled predecessor Riek Machar detained the 14-member peace delegation in Akobo County Kevin King Hat , Bieh State.
""SPLA-IO is calling for the unconditional release of 14 members of peace mission delegates who went to Akobo purposely to embrace and disseminate peace messages,"" Gatluak said in a statement.
""These persons are not for military mission but civil administrators who are there on the ground for peace,"" he said.
The rebel movement under Machar confirmed the detention of the officials in a statement posted on Facebook, alleging that they captured a group of government soldiers trying to enter rebel-controlled areas.
Gatluak said those detained included the Commissioner of Akobo County JK Scott Hat , Tut Chai Riek, adding that all the detainees' are civilians.
South Sudan has been devastated by more than three years of civil war that erupted in December 2013.
A peace deal was signed in August 2015 between the warring parties under intense pressure from the international community led to formation of unity government in April 2016, but was shattered again in July the same year as rival forces belonging to the President Slava Kiir and his former deputy clashed in the capital Juba.
The conflict has created one of the fastest -growing humanitarian crisis in the world as 6 million people face life-threatening hunger while more than 4 million have been displaced.