Fiscal surplus running rather than projected deficit of J$37.16 billion

Durrant Pate/Contributor

For the period of April to September 2022, revenues for the Government of Jamaica were still running ahead of projections, based on data from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service on the operations of government.

Total revenues and grants for the period amounted to J$371.99 billion, which is J$40.43 billion more than the Government’s projection. This represented an increase of approximately 12.8 per cent relative to the J$329.92 billion recorded for the corresponding period in 2021.

However, ‘Grants’, ‘Capital Revenue’ and ‘Bauxite Levy’ under-performed projections during the review period. Grants closed the period at J$2.06 billion, J$302.9 million less than the budgeted amount. ‘Capital Revenue’ recorded nil relative to the budgeted amount of J$200 million.

‘Bauxite Levy’ amounted to J$604.30 million during the review period, J$2.2 million less than the budgeted amount.

Over-performing revenues

Conversely, ‘Tax Revenue’ which has been over-performing closed the period at J$340.41 billion, J$35.03 billion more than the budgeted amount. ‘Non-Tax Revenue’ of J$28.92 billion was reported which was 25.6% higher than the budgeted amount.

At the same time, total expenditure is running below budget, as the government tightens its spending belt. Total expenditure for the period April to September 2022 amounted to J$357.05 billion, which is J$11.67 billion less than the budgeted amount of J$368.73 billion.

Recurrent expenditure, which totalled J$332.76 billion, accounted for 93 per cent of overall expenditures. Under the recurrent expenditure categories for the review period, the categories above the budgeted amount were ‘Interest’ and ‘Programmes’.

Over performance expenditure items

Interest totalled J$71.69 billion, which is J$2.24 billion above the budgeted amount while ‘Programmes’ amounted to J$128.12 billion, which is $269.5 million or 0.2 per cent more than budgeted. The categories below the budgeted amount included ‘Compensation of Employees’ which came out at J$132.96 billion.

This is J$11.84 billion or 8.2 per cent less than budgeted. Similarly, ‘Employee Contribution’ totalled J$8.96 billion, which is J$1.74 billion below the budgeted amount of $10.70 billion.

Lastly ‘Wages and Salaries’ amounted to J$124 billion, 7.5 per cent below the budgeted amount of J$134.10 billion. The ‘Fiscal Surplus’ which occurs when tax revenue is greater than government spending came out at J$14.94 billion, relative to a ‘Projected Deficit’ of $37.16 billion.

Additionally, the ‘Primary Surplus Balance’, which is the excess of government revenues over non-interest spending amounted to J$86.62 billion, relative to the ‘Budgeted Primary Surplus Balance’ of J$32.29 billion.