Finance Minister tables $912 billion budget
Published:Thursday | February 10, 2022 | 6:19 PM
Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has tabled a $912 billion Estimates of Expenditure describing the proposed 2022/23 budget as one moving from crisis towards recovery and growth.
“Fortunately, Jamaica has begun the process of recovery from the impact of the pandemic within the reality of the continued transmission of the virus,” Clarke said Thursday in tabling the Government's 2022/23 Budget for parliamentary approval.
The 2022/23 estimates of $912 billion is 2.1 per cent more than the revised $893 billion that was programmed a year earlier.
Non-debt expense is programmed for $539.5 billion and capital expenditure for $65.1 billion.
Debt servicing will account for $307.5 billion.
Clarke will give his substantive remarks in his Budget Presentation on March 8, 2022.
The 2022/23 Budget is the third fiscal year amid COVID-19 in Jamaica.
In 2021/22, the budget included the Serve Jamaica programme which gave health and financial support to vulnerable groups suffering from the pandemic.
A large part of the programme was funded from $32.6 billion in dividends from the Bank of Jamaica which represented 1.5 per cent of GDP.
It was a one-time inflow from the central Government which means the upcoming budget will not have that dividend cushion, said Clarke.
The absence of this inflow for fiscal 2022/23, will mean that revenue as a percentage of GDP will therefore decline.
“Capital expenditure would have been curtailed in 2020 due to the fiscal impact of the pandemic. With the economic recovery underway, we are seeking to boost capital investment in fiscal 2022/23, by 20 per cent which will still lead to a total lower than pre-pandemic levels,” said Clarke.
Debt service increases by 3.3 per cent over the previous fiscal year, and the non-debt recurrent expenditure includes a provision to start public sector wage compensation.
Clarke laid on the table of the House of Parliament for the next meeting, a number of budgetary documents:
- Estimates of Expenditure
- The Gov Fiscal Paper, 2022/23 Public Sector Estimates of Expenditure.
- Tax Expenditure Statement, Jamaica Public Bodies, Revenue Estimates
- Medium Term Debt Management Strategy
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