Finance Minister Opens Budget Debate Today
By: , March 7, 2023
Photo: Rudranath Fraser
A $2.3-billion allocation has been made to continue work on the Southern Plains Agricultural Development Project in the upcoming fiscal year. The sum has been budgeted in the 2023/24 Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in the House of Representatives by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, recently. The project, which began in December 2019, aims to provide access to irrigation water on fallow sugar lands, to increase agricultural productivity through the modernisation of the agricultural sector. It includes construction of wells and canal network and the development of the associated agricultural infrastructure in the arable areas of Amity Hall and Bridge Pen in St. Catherine and Parnassus in Clarendon. Up to December 2022, the drilling of three wells and yield test were completed in Parnassus, and abstraction licences were approved by the Water Resources Authority. Other physical achievements of the project include the completion of capacity-building for climate resilience and crop modelling, the design of agricultural buildings, the irrigation network design, the irrigation and road/draining works, and a gender-responsive training manual for farmer groups. For fiscal year 2023/24, anticipated physical targets of the project are to commence the construction of agricultural buildings and to complete the construction of irrigation network and roads/drainage infrastructure, as well as to complete the rehabilitation of Hartlands canal. This is in addition to the re-tender for contract to construct pump houses and reservoir at Amity Hall/Bridge Pen and the acquisition of GIS equipment for the NIC. (more) Southern Plains…2 The project is being implemented by the Ministry Agriculture and Fisheries, with co-funding from the Government of Jamaica and the Caribbean Development Bank. It is slated to end in December 2024. An additional $361.7 million has been earmarked to undertake activities in fiscal year 2024/25, if necessary.The Full Story
The 2023/24 Budget Debate gets under way in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 7), with the opening presentation by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke.
He is expected to outline how the Government’s trillion-dollar expenditure for the upcoming fiscal year will be funded.
The funds are allocated across the main expenditure categories and comprise non-debt recurrent expenditure of $665.7 billion, capital expenditure of $75.3 billion, and debt servicing of $280.6 billion.
Included in the non-debt recurrent expenditure are allocations to implement the second year of the three-year public-sector compensation restructuring.
At the tabling of the Estimates of Expenditure on February 14, Dr. Clarke explained that the allocation for capital expenditure takes into account the existing capacity to implement capital programmes and focuses on the priority areas to enhance development.
Central Government revenue and grant inflows are estimated at $897.6 billion, which, alongside the above-the-line expenditure of $887.7 billion, will generate the required fiscal balance surplus of $9.9 billion or 0.3 per cent of GDP, consistent with fiscal rules.
The corresponding primary balance required for debt service and to generate the targeted fiscal balance is approximately $165 billion or 5.6 per cent of GDP.
Dr. Clarke indicated that the largest single item of expenditure is the amount of $338 billion for wages and salaries, which includes provisions for the second year of implementation of the public-sector compensation restructuring.
He pointed out that the level of expenditure is approximately $100 billion higher than the wages and salaries for fiscal year 2021/2022, after adjusting for allowances previously captured in programmes.
Opposition spokesperson on Finance, Julian Robinson, will respond to the Minister’s presentation in his contribution to the Debate on Thursday, March 9, and Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, is slated to make his presentation on Tuesday, March 14.
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, will make his contribution to the Budget Debate on Thursday, March 16.
Dr. Clarke will conclude the Debate on Tuesday, March 21.