BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Federation’s political leader, Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris has laid a $706.1 million budget estimate for 2018 before the National Assembly today (Dec. 6).
He also laid the 2018 Appropriations Bill in the House, paving the way for the debates to begin on the draft estimates.
Dr. Harris, who is also the Minister of Finance, broke down the expenditures and explained that the Government’s most recent assessment points again to a positive achievement by the local economy “and the maintenance of a healthy fiscal position in 2018”.
“We would endeavour to implement the plans in such a way that the activities of the Government would yield improvements in the delivery of public service that would deliver to benefit all citizens and residents,” Dr. Harris said.
Listed below are the allocations for the various Government agencies for 2018:
• Governor General’s office - $2,251,346;
• Parliament - $1,752, 074;
• Audit office - $ 1,302, 843;
• Ministry of Justice, legal Affairs and Communications – $15,831,035;
• Office of the Prime Minister – $36,376,972;
• National Security – $75,541, 657;
• Ministry of International Trade – $ 4,001, 238;
• Ministry of Finance – $221,344, 212;
• Ministry of Community Development, Gender Affairs - $18,647,145;
• Ministry of Agriculture –$11,582,994;
• Ministry of Tourism – $ 27, 672, 246;
• Ministry of Public Infrastructure - $72,883,371;
• Ministry of Education - $91,806, 588;
• Ministry of Health - $57, 109, 894;
• Ministry of youth, Sports and Culture - $13, 804, 289;
• Ministry of Sustainable Development - $16,316,046;
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Aviation – $18,724, 283;
• Attorney General’s Office - $12, 288, 321; and
• Ministry of Nevis Affairs, Labour and Social Security - $ 6,921,482.
The 2018 Budget saw a $6.8M decrease against that of 2017.
The 2017 Estimates which were laid in December last year, amounted to $712.9M, with some Ministries seeing decrease allocations, while others saw increases.
The Governor Generals allocations went up, from last year’s figure of 1.84 million; and the Ministry of Justice, Legal Affairs and Communication also saw an increase of $2M.
The Office of the Prime Minister saw a $9M cut, down from its $45M allocation in 2017, while the Ministry of Finance saw a $26M drop.
Meanwhile, National Security’s allocation went up from $71M last year.
