Shaw Calls for Audit of Public Sector Entities

Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw, has called for a comprehensive audit of public sector entities to be carried out, to improve efficiency in government operations and provide significant budgetary savings.
Mr. Shaw, who was making his 2007/08 budget presentation in the House of Representatives yesterday (April 17) said that this audit of central government, government agencies, statutory bodies, and public sector companies, should be conducted by an independent body, to identify areas where waste could be eliminated and service delivery improved.
Meanwhile, on the matter of research and development, the Opposition Spokesman said that in order to ensure that funding for research was well spent, related institutions must be rationalized and “must be well aligned with industrial policy and be focused on areas such as, tourism, agri-business and business process outsourcing.
Turning to the key sectors of the economy, Mr. Shaw called for focus to be placed on luxury tourism as a means of diversifying the sector, and for the agricultural industry to be revolutionized, to include the diversification of sugarcane through privatization.