Standing Finance committee to begin examining budget today
Published:Wednesday | February 28, 2018 | 12:00 AM
The Standing Finance Committee of Parliament will today begin examining the government’s spending plan for the 2018/2019 financial year.
The estimates of expenditure was tabled in the House of Representatives earlier this month, with the government projecting it will spend approximately $773.7 billion in the new fiscal year, which begins on April 1.
This is $31.8 billion less than the $805.5 billion budgeted for this fiscal year.
The recurrent or housekeeping side of the new budget accounts for $560 billion, up from $515 billion last year while the capital budget is slashed from $290 billion to just under $214 billion.
The Standing Finance Committee is expected today to examine the planned expenditure for the portfolio areas for which the prime minister has responsibility, the finance ministry, the justice ministry, health ministry, tourism ministry and the ministry of science, energy and technology.
It will also examine expenditure for the attorney general’s office.
The other areas are to be covered tomorrow.
Finance Minister Audley Shaw is scheduled to open the Budget Debate on March 8.