The 2020/21 Budget Debate comes to a close today with Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke’s response to presentations made by the Opposition.

The estimates of expenditure and revenues were tabled in Parliament on February 11, following the ceremonial opening of the new parliamentary year and the Throne Speech by the Governor General Sir Patrick Allen.

Dr Clarke opened the debate on March 10, after the tabling of the auditor general’s report on the estimates, noting that the troubled Ministry of Education, Youth and Information had been allocated the largest share of the $853.5-billion expenditure budget with a whopping $117 billion, $5 billion more than in 2019/20.

Among the highlights of the Government’s presentations were:

* A $10-billion contingency to offset the impact of the COVID-19 threat;

* A wider $25-billion stimulus package that will also focus on a special soft loan to assist individuals and businesses that have been hit hard, and supporting the poor and vulnerable with special COVID-19-related grants;

* A full roll-out of the Orders for Special and Differential Treatment Measures (Set Asides) for micro-, small- and medium-sized business, to commence in January quarter of 2020/21;

* Additional $10 billion from the Development Bank of Jamaica for on-lending to specific productive areas of the economy, particularly agriculture, in light of the COVID-19 effect;

* A $126-million Constituency Development Fund (CDF) programme for Members of Parliament (MPs), for COVID-19-related interventions. Each MP will get $2 million;

* An extension of the grace period for loans from the beleaguered Students’ Loan Bureau from the current six months to 14 months;

* A $1-billion safety net project for the elderly who are not covered by existing pension schemes; and

* A $320-million gully cleaning programme for the Corporate Area.

The announcements were made by Dr Clarke and Prime Minister Andrew Holness during their budget presentations.

Also speaking during the two-week-long debate were Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips, who will be absent today after undergoing a minor operation yesterday, and the Opposition spokesman on finance Mark Golding.

Today also, a third supplementary estimates for 2019/20 will be tabled by the finance minister to reflect the revised budgetary provisions for the Government’s COVID-19 response. The Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) will meet tomorrow morning at 10:00 to review these estimates, and the House will sit in the afternoon to debate and vote on them.

Dr Clarke says that the estimates will also redirect unused resources to the Contingency Fund to be used in the 2020/21 budget.

He said that in the first week of the new financial year, the first supplementary estimates for 2020/21 will be tabled. This is geared at accommodating the expenditure side of the fiscal stimulus.

“We would like to get these funds out early, and I am requesting the forbearance of my parliamentary colleagues for a swift process that is responsive to the circumstances,” Dr Clarke said last week.

— Balford Henry