Budget for Current Fiscal Year Increased by $10B

The government has tabled the first supplementary estimates for the current fiscal year, increasing this year’s budget by just over $58 billion.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Fayval Williams, took the estimates through all their stages in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Before the supplementary estimates, the government’s planned spending for the fiscal year stood at $1,260,000,000,000 (one trillion two hundred and sixty billion).

The minister says there’s been a redirection of funds to ensure the budget remains balanced.

With redirections taken into consideration, the actual estimates of expenditure will increase by roughly $10 billion.

The supplementary estimates will also support the purchase of 110 buses for the rural school bus system at a cost of $1.4 billion.

It also covers the $1.1 billion, 3 per cent subsidy on electricity usage for residential customers announced by the government as part of the budget debates.

The minister says the lion’s share of $48 billion will go toward compensating central government employees through additional increment payments.

Fayval Williams Minister of Finance and the Public Service.