STRENGTHENING THE EXTERNAL SECTOR - WHAT THE BUDGET FORETELLS

This paper considers how the 1998-99 Budget has addressed the imperati ves facing the country's external mechanisms the government could have brought into play to promote exports, the authors argue that increasi ng the competitiveness of domestic production is the key to improving the country's export performance. This can be brought about by a combi nation of two sets of initiatives: providing effective infrastructural facilities and strengthening the science and technology infrastructur e to generate technologies for industry. An analysis of the budget fro m these standpoints shows that the budgetary proposals are not adequat e to meet the requirements of the domestic productive sectors.