Jamaican Government to Make $80 Billion in Cuts This Year

The government plans to spend $82 billion less this financial year than the previous year. That is a cut of approximately 14 per cent of the $602 billion based on the revised estimates that government spent last year.

The minister of finance tabled the estimates of expenditure for the financial year 2013/2014 proposing to spend $520 billion.

As is usual the largest amount from government spending will go to debt servicing. That amount at $225 billion is 43 per cent of the projected government spending.

Some of the ministries which saw an increase of a combined total of nearly $4.5 billion in their allocations are finance and planning, national security, local government, transport, works and housing as well as education.

Other ministries such as health, agriculture, youth and culture saw a combined decline of almost $2 billion.

The government is still to say where it will get the money to spend.

Some of that will come from loans from multilateral agencies and hence await an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

The Standing Finance Committee will now go over the estimates ahead of the opening of the budget debate on April 18 by the finance minister.

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