It was Budget Day in Anguilla on Wednesday, March 20, 2019, a late presentation in the House of Assembly by Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Victor Banks. But he told listeners that “the good news is that there will be no delay in getting the assent of Her Majesty’s Government because we have already negotiated the scope of expenditure; revenue; and deficit.”
He was at the time delivering the Budget Address in the presence of a large gathering. He made the point that 2018 was labelled a transitionary year and that as Anguillians reflected on whence they came through that year there was a deliberate strategy by the Government “for ensuring that we build the capacity to bounce back quickly after any form of setbacks or disasters – natural or man-made. Hence the theme for 2019: Building Pathways to Resilience in Development.”
After delivering a comprehensive review of recurrent expenditure and recurrent revenue and other financial matters in 2018, Mr. Banks turned his attention to the estimates for the current year.
“Mr. Speaker, the Recurrent Expenditure Estimate for this 2019 fiscal year is projected to be EC$213.48, excluding amortisation of EC$28.50 million,” he stated. “This is 5.60 per cent of EC$11.33 million variation when compared to the 2018 approved recurrent budget of EC$202.15 million. This increase is due, in part, to the overall obligations of the Government.”
Mr. Banks continued: “Personal Emoluments for 2019 are estimated at EC$88.01 million resulting in 2.41 per cent or EC$2.07 difference over [the 2018 approved budget of EC$85.94 million. This increase is as a result of the provisions being made for vacant posts across Government for the year. There is a marginal reduction in Retiring Benefits when compared to the 2018 approved budget of EC$10.76 million.
“Interest Payments, which include both domestic and foreign, have an estimated budget of EC$20.58 million, an increase of EC$1.69 million from the 2018 approved budget of EC$18.9 million. This increase is to facilitate an upturn in the variable interest rate and proposed new debt from the Caribbean Development Bank.”
On the question of recurrent revenue, Chief Minister Banks told the House of Assembly: “Mr. Speaker, the recurrent revenue is for 2019 s EC$208.36 million, which is a 17.39 per cent over the 2018 recurrent revenue estimate of EC$177.50. This projected is based on economic growth expectations as well as improvements in tax administration and compliance.”
He gave a breakdown of the recurrent revenue as follows:
• 27.43 per cent of total recurrent revenue is projected to be collected from Duties and is estimated to total EC$57.16;
• Taxes on Domestic Goods and Services that account for 21.96 per cent of total revenue is estimated to be EC$45.75 million;
• Of that total, Accommodation Tax accounts for EC$19.95 million;
• Stamp Duty amounts to EC$9.80;
• Taxes on International Trade are anticipated to be EC$28.16 or 13.52 per cent of recurrent revenue;
• Revenue from Licences is estimated at EC$16.58 million.
• Taxes on income, including the interim Stabilization Levy, are expected to generate EC$15.22 million. This is consistent with the 2018 actual outturn of EC$15.52 million;
• Taxes on Property is projected to bring in EC$7.0 million, a 9.03 per cent increase over actual collections for 2018 of EC$6.42 million.
• In other budgetary matters, Mr. Banks gave an outline of the Capital Revenue & Grants for 2019.
“Mr. Speaker, capital revenue in 2019 is anticipated to be EC$23.98 million from the ANGLEC share sale was delayed in 2018. Capital Grants for 2019 are estimated at EC$13.4 million from the European Development Fund Programme.
“The proposed Capital Budget for 2019 is EC$16.8 million. This will be financed by EC$9 million of the EC$13.3 million European Development Fund allocation for 2019 and the CDB loan for construction of the Anguilla Community College.”
Chief Minister Banks also touched on the UK Government’s grant whereby 60 million pounds were made available under the Anguilla Programme following Hurricane Irma.
Further information on the Anguilla Government’s 2019 Budget will be given in the coming editions of The Anguillian newspaper.
