Durrant Pate/ Contributor

As Jamaica’s parliamentarians start combing through the island’s record $1.4 trillion budget, which was tabled in parliament, Our Today looks at the Estimates of Expenditure in detail.

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) and its departments have been budgeted $75.6 billion for recurrent expenses, which comprises housekeeping operations such as the payment of salaries and the procurement of goods and services in addition to $4.28 billion in capital expenses for a record total budget of almost $80-billion. Some $1.72 billion will come from Appropriations in Aid, which revenues or income collected by the OPM and its departments in the ordinary course of business, which are authorised by Parliament to be used to fund their own expenditures. 

As customary, the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service and departments gets the lion’s share of the national budget, accounting for $606-billion of the $1.4 trillion national expenditure. This comprises $567.12 billion and $37.9 billion in capital expenditure. Some 23.76 billion will come from Appropriations in Aid. The next big budget winner is the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information and departments with a total recurrent and capital expenditure plan of almost $204 billion, representing $200.21 billion in housekeeping expenses and $3.4 billion in capital works with financing of 873 billion coming from Appropriations in Aid.

Next in line is the Ministry of Health and Wellness and departments with a planned capital budget of $188.11 billion and capital expenses of $13.82 billion with an overall expenditure plan of just over $202 billion while the Ministry of National Security and Peace and its departments have been allocated a recurrent budget of 128.86 billion added to $2.67 billion for a total capital and recurrent expenditure of just over $131 billion for 2026/27.

The Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development and departments budgeted $25.6 billion of which $7.02 billion will come from Appropriations in Aid with $21.88 billion being spent on capital projects. The Ministry of Local Government and Community Development has been budgeted $31.54 billion in recurrent expenditure and with $3.5 billion coming from Appropriations in Aids. For the Ministry of Tourism, it has been allocated $16.91 billion; the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change and departments budgeted $4.77 billion; the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and departments allocated $21.09 billion; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade with $8.8 billion and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security allocated $21.28 billion for recurrent expenses.

As for the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, it is getting $8.17 billion; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining $19.39 billion; Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce and departments $9.78 billion Ministry of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications with $26.5 for housekeeping expenses bring the total government’s recurrent budget to $974.38 billion of which $48.73 billion will come from Appropriations in Aid.

The government’s total capital budget will run almost $100 billion of which the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change will account for $11.22 billion;

Ministry of Labour and Social Security with $300 million.