Senate Approves Appropriation Act

The Government now has the authority to spend funds allotted in the 2015/16 Estimates of Expenditure, following the passage of the Appropriation Act 2015 in the Senate on Friday, March 27.

This annual Bill provides authority for expenditure (other than statutory expenditure) for the financial year 2015/16 and specifies the manner in which the money is to be allocated to the various services and purposes of the Government.

Piloting the Bill, Acting Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator the Hon. Mark Golding, noted “this is a significant Budget.”

He said that for the first time in the history of independent Jamaica, “the revenue and expenditure estimates were tabled at the outset of the Budget process,” and that the Budget was passed prior to the fiscal year commencing April 1.

“It has been a significant effort to get us to this point. A great deal of legislation has been passed, reorganising the public finances of the country and the rules that govern that, including the process of budgeting and so on. All public sector agencies have had to bring forward the preparations for their budget request and the finalisation of their particular budgets,” he said.

Senator Golding further pointed out that the 7½ per cent primary surplus, the net revenues after operating expenses of the Government that are available for debt service, are the foundation of successive years of balanced budgets that the Administration has maintained since taking office.

“The Budget represents a commitment to continuing (this positive trend) for the coming fiscal year. This is indeed the bedrock of Jamaica’s unfolding economic transformation,” he said.

Senator Golding commended the public servants, particularly those in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, noting that they have “done a fine job in ensuring that on this first occasion, Jamaica scored a Grade ‘A’ for Budget preparation.

The Estimates of Expenditure was approved in the Lower House on March 25, without amendments, following the close of the Budget Debate.