$792 Million For PCJ Added To Budget

The 2020/21 Estimates of Expenditure has been adjusted from $852.7 billion to $853.5 billion to reflect an additional $792 million to fund the operations of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), which will be integrated into the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology.

“That additional expenditure will be financed by a [provision] from PCJ… from the funds that they have,” said Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke.

He was speaking during Tuesday’s (March 3) sitting of Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee, which is reviewing the 2020/21 Estimates of Expenditure.

Dr. Clarke said that the proposed Estimates will comprise, among other things, non-debt expenditure of $527.6 billion covering $453.4 billion of non-debt recurrent expenditure and capital spend of $74.2 billion.

He added that this is supplemented by debt service expenditure of $287.8 billion, comprising interest of $132.7 billion, and amortisation of $155.2 billion, among other provisions.

“The non-debt recurrent expenditure is comprised of compensation of employees of $221.2 billion… and represents an increase of $9 billion or 4.3 per cent over the second 2019/20 supplementary estimates,” Dr. Clarke informed.

Additionally, he said the provision of $232 billion for recurrent programmes represents an increase of $10.5 billion or 4.7 per cent over the second 2019/20 supplementary estimates.

Meanwhile, Dr. Clarke noted that the proposed 2020/21 Public Bodies net expenditure for the upcoming fiscal year totals $441 billion.

This, he outlined, comprises a programmed recurrent expenditure of $356.4 billion, non-debt capital spend of $78.9 billion, and amortisation totalling $7.7 billion.

The Minister said the National Housing Trust (NHT), with $41.1 billion, and the National Water Commission (NWC), $11.5 billion, account for 75 per cent of the planned public bodies’ capital expenditure.

“The NHT plans to complete 20,000 housing solutions, houses and residential lots between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2023… and it is towards that objective that the $41.1 billion is being spent, which would facilitate the completion of 6,000 housing solutions as well as 9,347 new mortgages,” Dr. Clarke said.