Government Information Unit
Monday, April 23, 2018
Premier and Minister of Finance and Economic Management, the Honourable Donaldson Romeo presented the Government of Montserrat’s $164.8 million dollar 2018-2019 budget, under the theme ‘Advancing Our Journey To Self-Sustainability Through Strategic Investments’.
Premier Romeo delivered the budget this afternoon (Monday, April 23) during a meeting of the Legislative Assembly at the Montserrat Cultural Centre where he outlined the spending and revenue expectations for 2018-2019 and highlighted a number of success over the previous year 2017-2018.
The local economy is forecast to grow by 2.22% during 2018-2019 and the Government of Montserrat’s aim is to achieve sustainable economic growth of around 3% to 5% per annum over the next 10 years. The budget presentation also highlighted increased in capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure for this fiscal year. The Capital Expenditure Programme increase to EC$33.62 million (EC$7.14 million DFID Funded Projects, EC$24.58 million EU funded projects, EC$1.90 million other funding partners) compared to the $14.95 million dollars spent in 2017-2018.
The Recurrent Expenditure for the 2018/19 financial year is one hundred and thirty-one million one hundred and fifty-one thousand three hundred dollars ($131, 151, 300), representing an increase of 2.16% over last year’s figure.
A number of sectors were highlighted by the Premier as being poised for growth over 2018-2019. These include, the Mining and Quarrying sector; the Agriculture sector; The Construction sector; Hotel and Restaurant segments of the Tourism sector; and the continued growth of the Festivals are expected to result in increased tourist arrivals.
The revenue projections for this fiscal year also show an increase compared to 2 017-2018. The revenue estimate for 2018-2019 is $131.15 million dollars compared to $124.2 million for last year.
In addition to the projections for 2018-2019, Premier Romeo also highlighted the advancements made last year. The strategic breakthroughs which were realized in 2017-2018, as highlighted by the Premier included, the signing of the fourteen million, four hundred thousand pounds (£14,400,00) financing agreement with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for the Port Development; signing of EDF11 for eighteen million, four hundred thousand Euros (€18,400,000); the Economic Growth Strategy and Delivery Plan; the approval if the Subsea Fibre Optic Cable Project which will be advanced in 2018, and the progress made in Geothermal Energy Development.
Download Budget Highlights Here:
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Note: The full budget speech is
available for download on www.gov.ms. Once on www.gov.ms, click on the publications section, then Ministry
of Finance and select Budget Speech 2018.
