Andrew Green, Acting Financial Editor
Opposition Leader Bruce Golding (front, left) and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller (second right) lead their teams into the Chamber of Gordon House for the State Opening of Parliament yesterday. At right foreground is Acting Clerk of the House Heather Cooke and, dressed in white uniforms are Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas (left) and Jamaica Defence Force Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin (right, background). - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
MINISTER OF Finance and Planning, Omar Davies, yesterday tabled a $358 billion budget in the House of Representatives, a three per cent increase over the one presented last year.
The budget outlines the Government's spending plans for the new financial year which started April 1. It comes against the background of the failure to achieve a balance of income and spending of last year's budget and the decision to push back that target into the future.
This year's proposed budget offers substantial overall increases in funding to the relatively small Agriculture and Tourism ministries and smaller rises to the Industry and Commerce as well as to the Justice ministries. There were cuts to the ministries of Local Government and Finance and Planning.
Recurrent spending of $221 billion is up 11.7 per cent, while capital spending, at $146 billion, is down 6.8 per cent.
Interest payments on public debt amounts to $92 billion, a nine per cent increase over the level last year. The non-interest side of the recurrent budget is thus showing an increase of nearly 14 per cent over last year.
"This budget is not as tight as last year's," said analyst Keith Collister. "The fact that interest payments are rising in contrast with last year is clearly not a positive."
He said that even if interest payments only rise in line with expected inflation, this will have made the budget more challenging to construct. "After the increase in the wage bill, it will be harder to fund capital expenditure and programmes," he said.
The Ministry of Finance, as usual, gets the lion's share of the expenditures with an allocation of $244 billion to manage the country's massive debt burden. Its 0.3 per cent cut is significant, given the expectation that inflation, while it should be in the single digits this year, will still be substantial.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has pledged to focus on basic education and the Education Ministry has a $42 billion budget, an increase of 9.6 per cent.
SIGNIFICANT INCREASE TO TOURISM
The Ministry of National Security has $21 billion to establish public order, up 10.7 per cent from the year before, while the Ministry of Tourism, Entertainment and Culture got a total of $3.6 billion, up 48 per cent from last year. The significant increase to this ministry could provide substantial spin-offs for the local economy.
Agriculture and Land, another small ministry which could stimulate economic activity, gets $3.8 billion, up 58.6 per cent.
Local Government and the Environment, the Prime Minister's former ministry, gets $6 billion, down 13.2 per cent from the year before.
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Science and Technology has $2.6 billion, up 26.4 per cent, while the Ministry of Justice has $2.8 billion, also up 26.4 per cent, which reflects the calls within the society for a more accessible justice system.
Discussion of the figures in House of Representatives starts next week Tuesday, and the Finance Minister will tell how he plans to fund the spending on April 27 when he opens the Budget Debate.
Spending budget proposal (J$millions)
| MINISTRIES | PROPOSED | CHANGE |
| Finance and Planning | 243,829 | - 963 | - 0.3% |
| Tourism, Ent. Culture | 3,585 | + 1,169 | 48% |
| Security | 21,261 | + 2,649 | 10.66% |
| Education and Youth | 41,555 | + 3,630 | 9.6% |
| Health | 16,308 | + 1,587 | 10.8% |
Housing, Trans and Works 9,676
| Loc. Gov/Environment. | 6,056 | - 922 | - 13.2 |
| Agriculture and Land | 3,834 | + 1,416 | 58.6 |
| Industry, Commerce | 2,637 | + 551 | 26.4 |
| Justice | 2,754 | + 575 | 26.4 |
