Government Finance
Chief officers failing on transparency, says OAG
(CNS): Civil service bosses are not living up to the current administration’s commitment to transparency and many government departments are failing to make annual reports available to the public. In a recent review, which looks back on its own recommendations and those of the Public Accounts Committee, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) found […]
CIG gets failing grade on managing public cash
(CNS): It’s now over two years since the Office of the Auditor General, supported by the Public Accounts Committee, made over thirty recommendations to the Cayman Islands Government on how to improve its budgeting process and management of public spending. But only two recommendations have been implemented. The finance ministry has made little progress and […]
CIG collects full year’s revenue in 11 months
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government had already collected all of the revenue it had budgeted for this year by the end of November, Finance Minister Chris Saunders revealed during a brief meeting of Finance Committee, held to tidy up and settle movements of money for the current budget cycle. He told MPs that, according to […]
Revenue rolls in but public spending set to increase
(CNS): The government headed into the final quarter of this year with a healthy and better than expected surplus, but while revenue is still rolling in, expenditure is now rising. As government entities make a final push to meet planned objectives for 2022, the current surplus is likely to be “significantly reduced” over the last […]
Public spending must start falling, says Saunders
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government expects to collect more than CI$1 billion in revenue by the end of 2022 but also to spend close to one billion for the first time in its history, Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Chris Saunders said Wednesday, stating that public expenditure must begin to come down. He said the […]
CIG still battling to produce full public accounts
(CNS): Seventeen years after the Cayman Islands Government introduced the modern accounting system it now uses, it is still not able to get an unqualified opinion on the entire public sector accounts or produce the completed accounts on time. In a review of the 2021 government books released by the auditor general this week, Auditor […]
Gov’t coffers overflow with budget surplus
(CNS): At the end of the first seven months of 2022, the Entire Public Sector (EPS) had a surplus of $129.6 million, some $25.2 million more than the projected year-to-date operating surplus of $104.4 million, the finance ministry confirmed Monday. As of 31 July, the government was still collecting much more revenue than it had […]
OAG: Ministers must stay out of procurement process
(CNS): The Office of the Auditor General found no evidence of inappropriate actions by the civil service over the procurement of lateral flow tests to help manage the COVID-19 pandemic last year and that decisions made by Cabinet members were “reasonable and appropriate”. However, Auditor General Sue Winspear said clarity is needed around emergency decisions […]
Tertiary healthcare spending already over $24M
(CNS): Government’s spending on healthcare for people who are uninsured or under-insured is already more than CI$13.9 million over budget and there are still four more months of the year to go. The line item in the annual budget known as NGS55, the allocation of spending on tertiary healthcare at both local and overseas hospitals, […]
Property and financial sectors keep CIG in the black
(CNS): The coercive revenue that government has collected so far this year from property sales and the financial sector is keeping the government coffers full and the books in the black despite a significant increase in public spending over the last six months. Government has spent over $50 million more than forecast in the budget […]
Budget weaknesses outlined in bid documents
(CNS): Significant shortcomings in the way government currently reports and manages its now one billion dollar per year budget have been outlined in documents prepared by the finance ministry as it looks for consultants to help modernise the process. The current budget process is failing both the Cayman Islands Government and the people, and does […]
