BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - PRIME MINISTER the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas has announced that the 2013 Budget would soon be tabled in Parliament.
Responding to a question at his monthly press conference yesterday (Mar. 6), Dr. Douglas told members of the media that his government is almost at the point of bringing the overdue Budget to the national House of Assembly.
“I was informed by my Financial Secretary just yesterday that we are almost at the point of bringing this Budget. We are having the Budget readied to be brought to the Parliament and as soon as that is going to be ready - I am sure that maybe within a week or so - I should be able to announce, as the usual order is, when the Budget will be presented."
In explaining the reason for the long delay, Prime Minister Douglas said the Budget had to be re-written.
He said a number of activities that they had identified in the 2013 Budget are already being put in place, and so some grammatical changes had to be made in order for it to be presentable this time around.
“I can't be reading a budget that says 'this will be done' when it is in fact being done. So it has to be re-written, the language had to be changed and that is being done.”
The Prime Minister briefly touched on the issue of the Motion of No Confidence, with respect to the Budget, emphasising that it takes priority and, in order for the government to spend and receive money, it needed authority.
“I want to emphasise that we must have authority to spend money that we are collecting and we must have authority to collect money that we intend to spend. I am not certain what would be the outcome of a Motion of No Confidence, but I would hate to take the country into a situation where money is going to be required for that situation and the Parliament has not properly met to give authority for the spending of such monies. And so no major activity, I think for this fiscal year, should be undertaken unless the appropriate authority has been received.”
The 2013 Budget Presentation was originally scheduled for debate on December 11, 2012 but was postponed due to - according to Dr. Douglas - the absence of two Cabinet Members from meetings where the Budget had been discussed.
