Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke, addresses the House of Representatives on October 2. At left is Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Audley Shaw. (Photo: JIS)

KINGSTON, Jamaica —  The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the first Supplementary Estimates for the 2018/19 fiscal year.

This means that the Government will be spending an additional $17.42 billion for this financial year.

The Estimates show that the budget has been increased from $773.68 billion to $791.11 billion.

Recurrent (housekeeping) expenses have moved from $560.04 billion to $572.46 billion, for an additional expenditure of $12.4 billion. In terms of capital (development) spending, this is proposed to be increased by $5 billion, moving from $213.64 billion to $218.64 billion.

Of the increase, $7.3 billion will go towards the Major Infrastructure Development Programme (MIDP). The additional funds are required due to faster-than-programmed project execution.

Another $7.1 billion has been set aside for a grant to local authorities to deal with the payment of arrears and current charges for street lighting.

In his remarks, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke, explained that late payment to the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) for street lighting has long characterised public finances.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/_House_approves_first_supplementary_estimates_Oct_2018