LEA DEFICIT REACHES P75.4 MILLION

The auditor general’s report for the year ending March 2019 states that the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) deficit increased by over P70 million as compared to that of the previous year.

According to the report, for the year under review, the net deficit of LEA had increased significantly to P75.44 million from P2.87 million in the previous year.

“This was largely attributable to increase in expenses by 74 percent from P163.79 million in the previous year to P285.12 million in the year under review, a difference of P171.12 million, the bulk of which was Staff Retrenchment costs of P114 million,” the report states. “The operations of the Authority were financed largely by Government grant of P202 million in the year under review, which represented 97 percent of the Total Income, compared to P155 million in the previous year, also representing 97 percent of total Income.”