<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After years of being just below, the St\nVincent and the Grenadines budget estimates have gone over $1 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves on\nTuesday afternoon presented to parliament the 2019 estimates of revenue and expenditure\nfor 2019 which amount to $1,067,343,283.00 – an increase of 7.4 percent on the 2018\nestimates of $993,535,449.00 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finance minister\nsaid the increase is accounted for on both the recurrent and capital sides of\nthe budget.
\nGonsalves told parliament that the 2019 budget comprise\nrecurrent expenditure, inclusive of amortization and sinking fund contributions,\namount to $844,763,703 and that capital expenditure amount to $222,579,580. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gonsalves said the budget is financed by\nrecurrent revenue of $656,590,775 and capital receipts totaling $410,743,508. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finance minister said the current expenditure,\nexclusive of amortization and sinking fund contribution is $655,441,290 and current\nrevenue is estimated at $656,599,775.00. He said that consequently, the budget current\naccount balance realizes a modest surplus of $1,158,485, and that current\nrevenue for 2019 is 5.6 per cent or $34.9 million higher than budgeted revenue\nof 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gonsalves said the improved revenue\nperformance is attributed \u201cmainly to an anticipated pick up in real economic\nactivity in 2019 and administrative improvements at the main revenue agencies.\u201d\nHe said revenue from tax sources is expected to contribute $568.4 million to\nthe Consolidated Fund in 2019 while non-tax revenue is expected to gross $88.2\nmillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTax revenue is expected to grow by 6.8\nper cent, driven mainly by strong growth in taxes on international trade and\ntaxes on goods and services, which are projected to increase by 12.5 per cent\nand 9.3 per cent, respectively,\u201d the finance minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gonsalves said taxes on income and\nprofits, which is projected to grow by 1.8 per cent to $158.6 million is the\nthird largest source of government revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTogether, these three sources of tax\nrevenue are expected to contribute $515.3 million to the consolidated fund or\n78.5 per cent of the estimated total current revenue for the year 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The $88.2 million budgeted for the\ncollection of non-tax revenue in 2019 is expected to come mainly from the sales\nof goods and services, which is projected to generate $71 million in revenue,\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gonsalves also told parliament that revenue\nfrom non-tax sources will also benefit from inflows of property income and\nother revenue. He said that on the recurrent expenditure side, the total\nestimated recurrent expenditure, inclusive of amortization and sinking fund\ncontributions is $844.7 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis figure is 8.7 per cent or $67.9\nmillion above the amount budgeted in 2018,\u201d he stated.\n\n\n\n\n\nion and si<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After years of being just below, the St Vincent and the Grenadines budget estimates have gone over $1 billion. Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves on Tuesday afternoon presented to parliament the 2019 estimates of revenue and expenditure for 2019 which amount to $1,067,343,283.00 – an increase of 7.4 percent on the 2018 estimates of $993,535,449.00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n