When he makes his presentation later this week, Finance Minister Audley Shaw must be judged on whether his Budget can deliver growth, maintain fiscal prudence, and expand employment while reducing poverty. If his presentation indicates that these sometimes contradictory goals can be achieved, we would have a Budget we can applaud.
On Thursday, April 14, the Government of Jamaica tabled an expenditure budget of $544.721 billion in the House of Representatives which includes projected debt-servicing costs of $263.343 billion. The debt-servicing estimates suggest projected interest payments of $131.084 billion and amortisation payments of $132.259 billion.
Parliamentarians completed examination of the Estimates of Expenditure for the financial year 2011-2012 last week in a charged atmosphere, and now all eyes are on Finance Minister Audley Shaw who will open the Budget Debate this week.
The February 2010 revisions to the Financial Administration and Audit Act require the provision of significant pre-Budget information to engage the consciousness of, and feedback from, civil society. Several groups have complained of not being consulted, and it is difficult to identify a coherent and consolidated set of pre-Budget information.
The Throne Speech has been delivered to start the new parliamentary year. The Budget Debate will follow this week. The Sectoral Debate will come after that. We should be able to look to the Throne Speeches delivered by our governors general for the direction we have chosen to go forward.
Things are happening in the Budget which have not been seen for decades, perhaps not since the end of the 1960s, early 1970s. But we may be now too tired and cynical from years of lifting the massive debt burden, or too party-loving, to even notice, much more to celebrate.
The annual Budget Debate in Jamaica has always been accompanied by an increased awareness of Jamaicans that something important is going on beyond what is sometimes cynically depicted as merely a housekeeping duty by the Government, as it proposes spending to meet the anticipated costs of running the country for another year.
This is the final of a three-part series on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.Gerald Lalor and Charles GrantGuest EditorsUnlike the previous two nuclear accidents, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the primary cause of the accident was external -...
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It's clear to me that most readers, especially those in the 50-and-under age demographic, are clueless as to the origins of the Westminster system of government; its principles; its effect; and, hence, why it hasn't worked in Jamaica in 50 years and...
There are major challenges in the area of teacher preparation, as too many teachers tend to operate at the basic clerical level rather than at the level of the intellectual, who they are supposed to be of course.
The Western intervention in Libya has been justified on the basis of the international community's responsibility to protect people from even their own governments.
