Public servants, here, particularly those in the office of the budget director in the ministry of finance, are busy putting together the budget for this year.
This follows a series of consultations with all the ministries and heads of department, to determine the resources required to operate professionally.
Here and there, there will be some changes and minor adjustments, to meet the changing demands of the government, and the development agenda of the ULP administration.
Over the last three weeks or so, the public servants have been presenting their programmes for 2018 to the cabinet. Sometimes the discussions can be robust, as the government tries to get the best out of the allocated financial resources.
This year the government will present the estimates of expenditure and revenue on January 29, 2018. The House of Assembly will spend the next two days debating the estimates. Then on February 5, 2018, the Appropriation Bill 2018, or the Budget, will go before the House.
Before this, there will be the throne speech from the Governor General Sir Frederick Ballantyne, to be followed by the Budget Address to be delivered by the new minister of finance, Camillo Gonsalves.
These are challenging times for small island developing states, given the current global economic conditions, and the climate change issues that have been affecting the country. In fact Prime Minister Gonsalves, in presenting his budget address for 2016, sketch out the situation in this way.
The 2018 budget is grounded in the 2015 manifesto of the ULP, and shaped within the framework of the National Economic and Social Development Plan of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, 2013 to 2025. There are many regional and international initiatives which will also be included in the 2018 budget. Overall the budget will address the people centered approach of the ULP in terms of the socio economic development of the country.
So on January 29, 2018, the finance minister, Camillo Gonsalves will outline the fiscal situation of the country, and the plans for the development of the country going forward. We will also hear the plans of the individual ministries as these pertain to the sectors of health, education, agriculture, social development, forestry and energy.
2018 looks like a good year for the people of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, given the new projects to come on stream, or to get their official opening and ground breaking ceremonies. Vincentians can hardly wait to see the good things in the 2018 budget.
