for the upcoming financial year with the aim of trimming them five percent.

The news came yesterday from a Government spokesman after an anonymous source contacted The Royal Gazette claiming that the departments -- under what is effectively the Progressive Labour Party's first Budget -- had set their demands for funds far too high.

But the spokesman said: "The Ministry of Finance is currently busy co-ordinating the preparation by Government Departments of the 2000/2001 Budget, which will be presented to the Legislature in the early part of the year.

"It is a fact that as part of the usual budgetary process, Departments have been asked to review their proposed expenditures...

"This is not the first time this has happened, in Bermuda or elsewhere, and it should be taken to signify nothing more than the Government's desire to be careful to keep its Budget properly balanced.''