Durrant Pate/ Contributor

Government of Jamaica (GOJ) revenue collections have cross the J$280-billion border for the period April to July 2023 and is currently running J$6.2 billion ahead of projection.

Total revenues and grants collected for the period amounted to J$280.6 billion, which represents an increase of approximately 2.3 per cent relative to the J$236.1 billion recorded for the corresponding period in 2022. ‘Capital Revenue’ recorded nil in accordance with the budgeted amount.

Conversely, ‘Bauxite Levy’ amounted to J$428.0 million during the review period, relative to the budgeted amount of J$340.8 million. ‘Grants’ closed the period at J$1.8 billion, which is J$89.4 million less than the budgeted amount.

‘Tax Revenue’ closed at J$256.4 billion, which is J$3.4 billion more than the budgeted amount. ‘Non-Tax Revenue’ of J$22.0 billion was reported, which was 14.4 per cent higher than the budgeted amount.

Expenditures held tight

Total expenditure for April to July 2023 amounted to J$299.0 billion, which is J$587.6 million less than the budgeted amount of J$299.6 billion. Recurrent Expenditure, which totalled J$284.4 billion, accounted for 95 per cent of overall expenditures.

All categories under recurrent expenditure for the review period exceeded the budgeted amount, as ‘Programmes’ tallied J$88.7 billion (+J$205.9 million), ‘Compensation of Employees’ of J$142.7 billion (+J$69.7 million) and ‘Interest’ of J$53.0 billion (+J$346.6 million).

Notwithstanding, ‘Employers Contribution’ under the ‘Compensation of Employees’ was below the budgeted amount by J$31.9 million and ‘Domestic’ under the ‘Interest’ category was below the budgeted amount by J$66.1 million.

The ‘Capital Expenditure’ category amounted to J$14.60 billion, which is J$1.2 billion below the budgeted amount. The ‘Fiscal Deficit’, which is the difference between total revenue and total expenditure of a government in a financial year, is J$18.4 billion relative to a ‘Projected Deficit’ of J$25.2 billion.

Additionally, the ‘Primary Surplus Balance’, which is comprised of current government spending less current income from taxes, and excludes interest paid on government debt, amounted to J$34.6 billion, relative to the ‘Budgeted Primary Surplus Balance’ of J$27.5 billion.