KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is to present the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2012 to Parliament tomorrow.
Gonsalves, who is also the Minister of Finance will table the figures in Parliament, one year to the day that his Unity Labour Party (ULP) was re-elected to an historic third term in office.
It will also mark the end of the one-year timeframe that Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace had set for the fall of the government.
Gonsalves will present the estimates at the end of a year that saw a reduction in government revenue amidst the lingering effects of the global financial crisis, the fallout from the CLICO and British American saga regionally, and mismanagement of the black sigatoka disease locally.
Parliament this year approved an EC$786.5 million (US$291.2 million) in expenditure for 2011, a decrease of 13.9 per cent over the budget for 2010.
Of the 2011 budget, EC$609.8 million (US$225.8 million) was for recurrent expenditure, including amortization, and EC$176.7 million (US$65.4 million) for capital spending.
“It is clearly going to be a very important set of estimates in light of the present state of the economy and the government finances in particular,” Eustace said last week, noting the three years of negative growth and adding that the government’s financial situation “has deteriorated considerably”.
In recent months, the country has had to struggle with the after effects of Hurricane Tomas, which destroyed 98 per cent of banana cultivation and damaged 1,200 houses last year. (CMC)