2018 budget breakdown
Government’s considerably shrunken budget was released on Monday and the $299.5 million sum is being divided into nine umbrella groups.
The budget is being shared among the five government ministries as well as the Governor’s Group, the Premier’s Office, and constitutionally established departments.
The final group will cover pensions, public debt, and contribution funds from government.
Below is a breakdown of the projected allocations:
Ministry of Health/Social Development
The Health Ministry is projected to get the single largest share of the budget; securing 22.7 percent of the $299.5 million.
That percentage approximates to $67,992,258 million.
Ministry of Education/Culture
The Ministry of Education and Culture is being allowed 15 percent of the budget, which is approximately $44,928,804 million.
Ministry of Communications/Works
The Ministry of Communication and Works, which is responsible infrastructural development and repairs was not far behind with a 14.1 percent allocation.
That amounts to roughly $42,233,076 million.
Pensions/public debt
Thirteen-and-a-half percent — approximately $40,435,924 million — is being set aside for pensions, public debt and funds contribution this year.
Governor’s Group
The Governor’s Group follows with a 10.8 percent allocation. That amounts to roughly $32,348,739 million.
Finance Ministry
Government allocated 9.5 percent or $28,454,909 of the budget to the Ministry of Finance.
Premier’s Office
The Premier’s office is set to receive $23,872,171 million, which translates to about 7.97 percent of the budget.
Ministry of Natural Resources/Labour
The Dr Kedrick Pickering-led Natural Resources and Labour ministry is projected to receive 4.4 percent, which is roughly $13,179,116 million.
Constitutionally established departments were allocated the smallest bite of this year’s budget. It is receiving 2.3 percent of $299.5 million. That amounts to about $6,889,083 million.
This year’s fiscal budget is the first since the September 2017 hurricanes and is $23,587,265 million less than last year.
Premier Dr D Orlando Smith also projects that the territory’s expenditure for this year will be $352,816,500.
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Pickering going only spend the money on a failing fake beach
Look trouble.
I’d be more interested to see the breakdown of the spending by Department. How much of this is wasted on paying six people in the civil service do the job that could be done by a single competent person?
About as clear as mud and nothing more than I would expect from the “No direction Party” NDP that continue to lead our country to disaster….they simply haven’t a clue but they sure know how to look after themselves not our country….
WTF is your problem? Every single topic you are negative! The budget will be a public document once passed so why not stop acting like a stupid spoiled child and act like a rational adult.
Stinker – not true I post comments that are thought provoking – hence the number of likes…some are positive some unfortunately are critical because I want this government to step up and lead properly, openly and with passion….often the problem is people like you that just choose to get offended when the truth is stated, but all you do is moan – I suspect you are another of these entitled moaners that contribute v little?
Why such a small country spent so much money?
..Look at the line item that includes pension. We must be the only Government in the entire world that pay employees 100% pension once retired even though they haven’t contributed one dime! Yes, we have a non-contributory pension scheme where payments are made directly from the Government. Not even a contribution scheme like SS or NHI they set up, just cash cash cash, how long can it or will it last? Nobody wants to touch that because it’s the locals getting that money.
The allocated ministerial, along with other groups, lump sum has some value but a line item for each activity or department would paint a better picture. It would also be instructive if we knew what funding level ministries and other groups asked for relative to what what was received. The delta between expenditures and revenues sticks out; there is a $54M projected revenue shortfall.
Anticipating the budget debate in the HOA; will there reallocations and adjustments. Specifically, will the HOA authorize and appropriate a $54M deficit budget or it will take action(s) to appropriate a balance budget? Will a deficit budget give activities license to spend money they don’t have. There should be a rather simple rule or two rules: a) approved funding should be expended for its intended purpose, and b) cannot spend money that was not appropriated.
Another number of interest is the $40M for pension and public debt. How much is earmarked for pension and public debt, respectively? The retirement unfunded liability needs to be urgently addressed; that number should be approaching $300M. The BVI must be the only locale where government employees contribute nada towards their retirement. This practice is not sustainable.
Yet another interesting number is the $32M for the Governor’s Group. What is included in this number? Should not the UK be funding most of the cost for the Governor’s Group operations? By the way, I’m pleading ignorance but what are constitutionally established departments?