Shaw holds back tight Budget

Arthur Hall, Senior Stafff Reporter

The Government has set aside $6.7 billion in this year's Budget to pay contingencies, including outstanding wages and allowances to civil servants.

Of that amount, $2.5 billion is budgeted to pay teachers based on an Industrial Disputes Tribunal Ruling; $700 million for select public-sector groups and $1.4 billion for general allowances to civil servants.

The figures, which should be good news for some civil servants, are contained in the 2011-2012 Estimates of Expenditure tabled in the House of Representatives by Finance Minister Audley Shaw yesterday.

There were no other major surprises in the estimates as Shaw gave a clear indication that he intends to keep the purse strings tight this year with the increase in spending at nine per cent when compared with last year.

That increase is a shade above the inflation rate which is expected to finish the 2010-2011 fiscal year at just about seven per cent.

According to the Estimates of Expenditure, Shaw is planning to spend a total of $544.7 billion this year or $47.1 billion more than the final figure of $497.6 billion for the just-concluded fiscal year.

The figures show that Shaw will be spending $352 billion for housekeeping expenses, up from the $338.7 billion he shelled out last year.

For buildings, roads, machinery and other capital projects, Shaw indicated plans to spend $193 billion.

This is 21 per cent more than the Government splashed out for capital projects last year.

As usual, the bulk of the Budget will go towards repaying the country's debts but Shaw will continue to enjoy a bounce from falling interest rates and the Jamaica Debt Exchange as debt charges will be lower.

This year, $131 billion has been allocated for interest payments and other debt charges while $132 billion has been set aside to repay loans.

That leaves Shaw with 51 per cent of the Budget to take care of all his other bills.

Of what is left, the big three ministries, Education, Security and Health, will get the lion's share.

The Andrew Holness-led education ministry gets $70 billion for housekeeping expenses and $3.2 billion for capital spending.

The recurrent Budget for the education ministry reflects a $1-billion reduction when compared with last year, but that is made up on the capital side where the increase is just over $1 billion.

Dwight Nelson in the Ministry of National Security gets $41 billion for wages, salaries and other recurrent expenses.

That is $3 billion more than the national security ministry and its departments received last year.

This year, the bulk of the increase will be going to the police force.

The national security ministry also gets $1.9 billion for capital expenditure, up a shade from its allocation last year.

The Ministry of Health sees its recurrent expenditure moving down slightly to $33.4 billion from $33.7 while its capital budget is almost flat at just under $1.5 billion.

The Estimates of Expenditure will be dissected by the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament next week before Shaw tells the country how he will finance the Budget.

Shaw is expected to provide those details on April 28 when he opens the Budget Debate.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com

Big-ticket items

** OPM — Office of the Prime Minister includes the Department of Local Government.