Finance Minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke is expected to open the budget debate this afternoon in the House of Representatives.
For the first time in the country’s history, the government is planning to spend more than $900 billion in one financial year.
In early February, Dr. Clarke tabled the $912 billion budget.
Five hundred and thirty-nine billion dollars will be allocated for non debt recurrent expenditure to finance the various Ministries and state agencies of the government.
Capital Expenditure for infrastructure and other long term projects will be just over $65 billion dollars.
The budget debates is set to get underway on the heels of a new warning from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, yesterday.
The IMF says the world should brace for significant economic fallout due to the war in Ukraine.
The IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva says while the situation remains highly fluid and the outlook is subject to extraordinary uncertainty, the economic consequences are already very serious.
Energy and commodity prices-including wheat and other grains have surged, adding to inflationary pressures from supply chain disruptions and the rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic.
She says price shocks will have an impact worldwide, especially on poor households for which food and fuel are a higher proportion of expenses.
The IMF warns this crisis will create complex policy tradeoffs, further complicating the policy landscape as the world economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jamaica has not been immune to these global shocks with gas prices already surging and inflation already well above the expected range at 9.7 per cent.
