Audited Financial statement of the fund tabled in parliament on Tuesday 

Durrant Pate/ Contributor

Jamaica’s Consolidated Fund, which is the primary account to which the government’s revenue is deposited and from which expenditure is withdrawn, suffered a payment deficit for the 2022/2023 fiscal year.

The 2022/2023 Audited Financial Statement of the fund, which was tabled in parliament on Tuesday showed total payment made for the year amounting to just over J$1 trillion but receipts closed at J$974.67 billion, leaving a shortfall of minus J$27.88 billion.

On the receipt account, there was a deficit of J$32.48 billion between receipts and payments recorded for the year 2022/2023, as J$974.67 billion was captured for receipts and J$1.002 trillion made in payments. For the 2021/2022 fiscal year, there was a surplus of J$6.73 billion between receipts and payments.

For the 2022/2023 fiscal year actual receipts underperformed by -2% while taxation remains the largest contributor to total revenue and accounted for 78% of total receipts, followed by non-tax receipts and external loans, which accounted for 7% and 3%, respectively.

Information on payments

The largest category of payment was recurrent expenditure, which accounted for 60% of actual warrant issues made from the Consolidated Fund followed by statutory recurrent expenditure with 35%. The actual payment issued was J$992 billion compared to the projected J$1.002 trillion.

Receipts lodged to the Consolidated Fund increased by J$66 billion (7%) when compared with 2021/2022 financial year. This was mainly due to increases in business economic activities, which positively impacted tax collection during the reporting period.

There was an increase in the issues made from the Consolidated Fund by J$106 million (11%) in comparison with the 2021/22 financial year. Refunds recovered in the amount of J$1.868 million were erroneously transferred to the Consolidated Fund Account. 

Upon the requisite approvals, the amounts were subsequently refunded. Negative Warrant in the amount of J$40.235 million, was subsequently refunded to the Consolidated Fund Account.

The Accountant General’s Department has the responsibility for the management of the Government’s cash resources through the Central Treasury Management System (CTMS), which allows for greater visibility to optimize cash, control bank accounts and manage liquidity.

Section 114 of the Jamaica Constitution gives the authority for the establishment of a Consolidated Fund into which shall be paid all revenues of Jamaica. Section 15 (2) of the Financial Administration and Audit Act indicates that the Accountant General shall be the custodian of this Consolidated Fund.