Government Seeks Ways to Close Budget Deficit Gap

The government is looking at ways to close the budget deficit gap.

Premier, the Honourable Joseph Farrell says the Ministry of Finance team is working with accounting officers in each ministry to identify areas where expenditure could be reduced without greatly affecting service delivery.

He says Government has also discussed a reduction in the Small Capital Asset Fund, and reducing expenditure on Technical Cooperation Officers and consultants.

In June’s budget Premier Farrell announced that the government was facing a 22 million dollar deficit due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Premier Farrell says the injection of some $8.3 M dollars into the local economy provided by the Department for International Development (DFID)  helped to buffer the harsh economic fallout experienced by residents in the first quarter of the financial year, April – June.

He said to date this allocation has been overspent by approximately seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars due to the demand.

Since the budget was presented in June, he has been working with technicians within the Ministry to chart the best way forward to manage the budget shortfall.