It was to the relief of many persons when the long-awaited 2018 Budget, to finance the Anguilla Government’s public services, was presented to the Anguilla House of Assembly on Monday, April 23, by Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Victor Banks. The debate is set to commence on Monday, April 30.
The budget, however, is still to be approved by the United Kingdom Government which has been calling for increased taxation, cuts in expenditure, a narrowing of the deficit and the need for debt payments, among other demands.
Entitled “2018 and Beyond: Anguilla 2.0 – Green, Smart, Resilient and Inclusive”, the budget is incorporated in a Bill for the Appropriation (2018) Act, 2018. The proposed Act sets out the Recurrent and Capital Expenditures totalling EC$287,901,916. The difference between revenue and expenditure is EC$25 million.
Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Victor Banks, told The Anguillian that he was not overly worried about the deficit. He disclosed that in fact the UK Government was allowing a deficit of 20 million dollars, but his Government was working with a deficit of 25 million instead. “This is a difference of 5 million dollars, but we know we can make the 20 million dollars,” he assured the newspaper. “We just want to be conservative. It is 177 million dollars in revenue and 202 million in recurrent expenditure so there is a difference of 25 million dollars.”
Asked how his Government proposed to deal with the deficit, the Chief Minister and Minister of Finance replied: “We have to cover it with overdraft facilities and financing from the Caribbean Development Bank and so forth.”
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Palmovan Webster, commented: “I am very disappointed with the budget as I believe that not sufficient work had been done in the lead-up to the budget to allow it to be a creative budget and to get the stamp of the British Government right away. I feel disappointed by that.”
Following is the schedule to the Appropriation Bill which provides the estimates of expenditure in the various Ministries as well as the Governor’s Office:
SCHEDULE
(Section 2)
GOVERNMENT OF ANGUILLA
2018 ESTIMATES OF RECURRENT EXPENDITURE AND CAPITAL
SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATIONS
PROGRAM MINISTRY ESTIMATE
2018
PART I – RECURRENT EXPENDITURE
$
001R HE THE GOVERNOR 25,180,358
350R MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS, LABOUR,
IMMIGRATION,INFORMATION AND
BROADCASTING AND ENDUCATION 38,221,063
450R MINISTRY OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT, INVESTMENT,
COMMERCE, TOURISM AND
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 76,639,223
550R MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 48,278,178
650R MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE, COMMUNICATIONS
UTILITIES AND HOUSING, AGRICULTURE,
FISHERIES AND ENVIRONMENT 13,838,094
TOTAL RECURRENT EXPENDITURE 202,156,916
PART II – CAPITAL
001D HE THE GOVERNOR 1,200,000
350D MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS, LABOUR,
IMMIGRATION, INFORMATION AND
BROADCASTING AND EDUCATION 31,400,000
450D MINISTRY OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT, COMMERCE,
TOURISM AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 7,040,000
550D MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 15,200,000
650D MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE,
COMMUNICATIONS UTILITIES AND HOUSING,
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES
AND ENVIRONMENT 30,905,000
TOTAL CAPITAL 85,745,000
TOTAL RECURRENT AND CAPITAL
EXPENDITURES 287,901,916
Terry T.C. Harrigan
Deputy Speaker
Passed by the House of Assembly this day of , 2018
Lenox J. Proctor
Clerk of the House of Assembly
