Premier confirms date for budget meeting

(CNS): Government will deliver its 2020/21 budget to the Legislative Assembly on 8 November, the premier confirmed Wednesday. After the law was changed several years ago to enable multi-year budgets, this will be the last this government presents to the parliament before the 2021 elections. The finance minister will outline the government’s projected earnings for both years, as well as how it plans to spend the public’s cash based largely on the strategic policy statement delivered in April.

Premier Alden McLaughlin announced the budget meeting after two and a half days of contentious wrangling across the parliament over the Referendum Bill, which will pave the way for a people’s vote in December on the controversial cruise berthing project.

But the budget meeting, which is likely to last at the very least ten days, will mean that legislators will be in the Legislative Assembly debating government’s proposed plans and then scrutinising the spending detail in the finance committee hearings rather than being on the referendum campaign trail.

Although no details have been revealed about the upcoming spending plan, government is not expected to engage in any new borrowing other than the refinancing of part of a bullet bond, which is due next month. It is also not expected to raise any new fees or taxes to cover its expenditure and will be dependent on the solid economic performance to continue collecting revenue largely from the offshore sector, tourism, work permits and customs duty.