Andrew Green, Staff ReporterTHE GOVERNMENT will try to maintain about the same level of spending this financial year, based on the budget presented yesterday in Parliament by the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies.
The spending estimate for the new financial year, which starts today, is $346 billion. This is just over four per cent above the amount spent last year and is in keeping with plans to balance the budget this year.
With inflation running at over 12 per cent between February last year and the corresponding period this year, this four per cent rise means the budgeted spending should be less in real terms than was spent last year.
But the outlook is not as bleak as it first appears. Debt servicing took up just over 68 per cent of the budget last year. That is expected to fall to 66 per cent of the budget this year.
After debt servicing, the government had $105 billion to spend on goods and services last year. With the lower portion of the budget dedicated to debt service this year, the government would be left with around $116 billion to run the country.
The increase of over 10 per cent in the amount the government should actually be able to spend goes some way to compensate for the effects of inflation.
But even though the dollar amount of the budget is up, there are some big winners and losers in terms of the budget allocation.
Education will finally get a significant increase in resources this year with a budget of $38 billion. This is an increase of 24 per cent on last year's budget. The most dramatic increase in this sector is the $2.8 billion to be spent on land and buildings, compared with $126 million spent last year. Equipment purchases jump to $477 million from $34 million.
The small Water and Housing Ministry should also be a lot more active this year with its $1.1 billion budget, up 32 per cent over the level last year.
HEALTH THE BIG LOSER
The big loser is the Ministry of Health, which with a budget of $13 billion, gets 13 per cent less in dollar terms than last year. Despite the overall cut, its capital budget was increased from $458 million to $583 million.
The Ministry of Finance and Planning gets $251 billion this year, largely to manage the country's debt payments. It gets a three per cent budget boost.
National Security is allocated $17 billion, an increase of 10 per cent.
And despite the problems with the fire service, the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Sports got a nine per cent budget cut, with its $5 billion allocation. The positive aspect is that its capital budget is boosted from $474 million to $737 million.
The Agriculture Ministry, with $1.96 billion, gets a 0.5 per cent increase.
The Finance Committee of Parliament will examine the proposals next Tuesday and Dr. Davies will state how he proposes to fund the budget on April 14.
