Jamaican News

Six Years of Budget Information Presented in 2018/19 Estimates of Expenditure

Photo: Michael Sloley

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, makes a point as he tables the 2018/19 Estimates of Expenditure in the House of Representatives on February 15.

The Government has included six years of budget information in the 2018/19 Estimates of Expenditure, including projections for the next three fiscal years, representing the first time in the country’s history that this is being done.

The Estimates usually provide details about Government expenditure for three fiscal years.

The six years of budget information include Provisional (unaudited) Actual Expenditure for 2016/2017; the Approved and Revised Estimates for the current financial year 2017/2018; Estimates for the upcoming fiscal year 2018/2019; as well as Estimates for 2019/2020, 2020/2021, and 2021/2022.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, who tabled the Estimates of Expenditure in the House of Representatives on February 15, explained that the projections for the additional three years are indicative of the level of spending that will be undertaken to continue the implementation of existing programmes and projects and maintain government operations at the current levels.

“The projections are rolling and are not static, but will be revised each year to ensure alignment of expenditure with the forecast resource envelope and Government’s policy priorities,” he said.

Mr. Shaw added that the inclusion of the additional three years of projected spending in the Estimates will become a permanent feature and will shortly be extended to the Revenue Estimates.

“This is an effort to provide more information to the public on the Government’s future spending intentions, and this is in keeping with the (Administration’s) commitment to greater fiscal transparency and accountability,” the Finance Minister said.

Mr. Shaw stressed that notwithstanding the inclusion of the medium-term projections in the Estimates of Expenditure, the annual authorisation of expenditure will remain and that Parliament will continue, as it now does, to consider and vote only on the estimates for the new financial year 2018/2019.

He added that the 2018 Appropriation Bill that he will table at the start of the Budget Debate in March will not include the projected estimates for the three forward years.

 

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