PDM MP Inna Hengari has criticised government's mid-year budget performance, citing rising living costs, slow development spending, unaffordable housing and insufficient job creation.

She called for targeted relief against fuel price increases and measurable employment outcomes from government-funded programmes.

Hengari questioned the implementation of previous government employment and housing programmes, including Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG) and the Mass Housing Programme, saying their targets had not translated into the promised results.

"The mass housing blueprint later set an ambition of 185,000 homes over 18 years. Government must by now have learned to publish clear milestones, costs, completed outputs, local jobs and independent results for every major programme and to explain plainly when it falls short."

AR Leader Job Amupanda questioned the transparency and accountability of the mid-year budget review, arguing that Parliament is approving additional funding without sufficient explanations on how the money will be spent.

"When you have this normal budget that we pass in March, these are projections, these are plans, this is what we are going to do with this money that we are asking you to appropriate. At this stage, it's no longer about projection. It's no longer about promises. It's actually about what has happened with the funds that we have achieved. So the exercise that we are undertaking, we must ask ourselves, are we ensuring public accountability, fiscal transparency, and are we managing public finance in real-time."

Swapo MP Clemencia Coetzee welcomed the additional N$179 million allocated towards Foot-and-Mouth Disease containment but warned that disease control alone would not protect farmers from financial collapse.

"Government should therefore consider temporary tax relief and deferred tax obligations for affected farmers, affordable emergency and recovery financing, assistance with agricultural loan repayment, support to feed water and livestock maintenance costs, and also protection for farm workers whose employment is threatened."