Assessments, adjustments and achievements in relation to the public sector’s work programme was the main focus at this month’s Ministerial Conference as the Government commences preparations for the new budget cycle.
The Conference, which was convened (yesterday) at State House, also saw the participation of Permanent Secretaries, Heads of various agencies and high-level technical and financial officers in a bid to assess and review, ministry by ministry, the status of Public Sector Investments Projects (PSIPs).
According to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency, Minister of State, Mr. Joseph Harmon explained that given the fact the fiscal year is already at the half-way point, it is necessary to take stock of what currently obtains, particularly as it relates to the $56B, which was allocated for PSIPs, so as to plan efficiently and prudently for 2018.
“The Finance Minister pointed out that in the absence of enhanced spending by the private sector it is the Government’s spending that will drive economic growth… We needed to ensure that the monies were spent so that the economy will be driven in a specific way… The Minister of Finance gave us some projections for the rest of 2017 and an outlook for 2018. He had his entire team of technical officers from the Ministry, so we have a very good sense of where we are now and what we need to do to complete these projects by the end of the year,” Minister Harmon said.
With regard to the 2018 National Budget, the Minister informed that the ground work has already commenced. He noted that since this is the Coalition Government’s third budget, since it came into Office in 2015, they are now in better and more informed position to identify and analyse areas of expenditure and to chart the way forward in terms of expediting public sector projects, the MOTP said.
