Burt: balanced Budget projected with $4m surplus
A $25 million investment package in social services announced last week was put in context yesterday by David Burt, who provided figures on the present fiscal year showing “prudent management and economic stewardship”.
The investments were debated by MPs in yesterday’s sitting of the House of Assembly.
Legislators heard that a balanced Budget remained on track for 2024-25 — despite the spending package combined with a $10 million drop in tax revenues from a cut in customs duty on Belco’s fuel imports, aimed at offsetting higher electricity bills.
The Premier said the first balanced Budget in 21 years was still expected to be realised, with most recent estimates predicting a surplus of $4 million in the public purse.
He said government revenue in the 2023-24 fiscal year was forecast to be $1.19 billion, or 2.7 per cent above the expected $1.15 billion, attributed to “better-than-expected payroll tax receipts”.
Current account expenditures were projected to be $980 million, up $7.3 million over estimates, according to consolidated fund financial statements being prepared for audit.
Capital account expenditures were projected at $98.2 million, $2.2 million more than estimated.
Interest and guarantee management costs for 2023-24 were projected to be $130.6 million.
Mr Burt, who is also the Minister of Finance, told MPs that the 2023-24 budget deficit was expected to come in at $21.8 million, or half the original estimate.
The Premier added that, for the first five months of 2024-25, revenues for the Government’s consolidated fund were up by $30 million — projected at $1.26 billion — while current account expenditures were expected to stand at $1 billion, up 1.8 per cent as a result of the supplemental investment package.
Mr Burt said the investments were also reflected in projected capital account expenditures of $119.8 million, up $7.3 million from estimates.
He said interest and guarantee management costs were expected to remain on budget.
Mr Burt followed with a statement on a public service strategic plan that set out “operational priorities for the public service and the actions that will be driven from now to 2027”.
He said it would be “customer-centric” and future-focused, with a “robust monitoring and reporting system” to track “the number of services successfully digitised, insights from annual employee feedback surveys and data from customer satisfaction surveys”.
• To see the Premier’s statements in full, see Related Media
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