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GOVERNMENT IS HOPING to raise $2.45 billion in revenue in the 2010 financial year, while its expenses are expected to hit the $3.8 billion mark.
This was revealed in the 2010 to 2011 Estimates Of Revenue And Expenditure laid in the House of Assembly yesterday by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance David Thompson.
The situation leaves the Thompson administration with a $593 million deficit to plug.
The overall fiscal balance, as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) minus amortisation, is projected at 7.4 per cent down from 8.2 per cent last year. This is under the International Financial Institutions standard.
Moreover, in this fiscal year Government will face $1.21 billion in debt servicing. Of that figure, $722 million will go towards debt amortisation which is up from $460.17 million estimated for this last year.
The Estimates show that Government is planning to raise at least $200 million in foreign borrowing, as it has listed $200 million in non-project foreign financing.
As usual, Barbados will dedicate the largest portion of its budget to educating its citizens, with $519.82 million going to the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development. Next is the Ministry of Health with a total budget of $335.77 million and the Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and Drainage which has $139.2 million budgeted for its operations.
Asked for initial comment on Government's projections, University of the West Indies economics lecturer and former Central Bank economist Dr Winston Moore said that Government's provision of $181 million for capital expenditure on fixed assets, which was more than double the amount spent for this area last year, suggested that the administration was likely to do more in fixed financing and this "bode well for future growth".
"Government is pulling back but also looking at both current and future growth. The fiscal deficit is coming down but the drawback is that financing is not adequately accounted for."
In this connection, Moore pointed to the $466 million listed under Domestic Financing in the summary of Government operations and financing.
According to Moore, "this is nearly $500 million to finance the deficit and I suspect it may come through some additional treasury bills or treasury notes even though it has only budgeted $25 million for treasuring bills in 2010".
"I guess Government is looking at a strategic rate depending on which comes in lowest. But [$466 million] is a lot left open to finance the deficit," the economist noted.
Nation
This was revealed in the 2010 to 2011 Estimates Of Revenue And Expenditure laid in the House of Assembly yesterday by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance David Thompson.
The situation leaves the Thompson administration with a $593 million deficit to plug.
The overall fiscal balance, as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) minus amortisation, is projected at 7.4 per cent down from 8.2 per cent last year. This is under the International Financial Institutions standard.
Moreover, in this fiscal year Government will face $1.21 billion in debt servicing. Of that figure, $722 million will go towards debt amortisation which is up from $460.17 million estimated for this last year.
The Estimates show that Government is planning to raise at least $200 million in foreign borrowing, as it has listed $200 million in non-project foreign financing.
As usual, Barbados will dedicate the largest portion of its budget to educating its citizens, with $519.82 million going to the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development. Next is the Ministry of Health with a total budget of $335.77 million and the Ministry of Environment, Water Resources and Drainage which has $139.2 million budgeted for its operations.
Asked for initial comment on Government's projections, University of the West Indies economics lecturer and former Central Bank economist Dr Winston Moore said that Government's provision of $181 million for capital expenditure on fixed assets, which was more than double the amount spent for this area last year, suggested that the administration was likely to do more in fixed financing and this "bode well for future growth".
"Government is pulling back but also looking at both current and future growth. The fiscal deficit is coming down but the drawback is that financing is not adequately accounted for."
In this connection, Moore pointed to the $466 million listed under Domestic Financing in the summary of Government operations and financing.
According to Moore, "this is nearly $500 million to finance the deficit and I suspect it may come through some additional treasury bills or treasury notes even though it has only budgeted $25 million for treasuring bills in 2010".
"I guess Government is looking at a strategic rate depending on which comes in lowest. But [$466 million] is a lot left open to finance the deficit," the economist noted.
Nation
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