Whoever forms the next Government will have a Budget continuing Barbados’ heavy reliance on tax revenue and domestic financing.
Direct foreign funding is predicted to decline as the administration contends with a $1.3 billion fiscal gap this year.
The dependence on money from home was illustrated by the projection that Value Add Tax (VAT) will become a more than $1 billion revenue source.
At the same time, however, the Freundel Stuart Administration yesterday declared that its 2018-2019 Budget, better known as the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, would see its total spending decrease by $16.5 million when compared with 2017-2018’s numbers. It added that revenue would also increase by 3.3 per cent.
All of this information was contained in the near 500-page Estimates document, which Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler laid in the House of Assembly yesterday ahead of next week’s debate on the Appropriations Bill. (SC)
Please read the full story in today’s Midweek Nation, or in the eNATION edition.
