The budget was bumped up by just over one million dollars when “subsequent to the public hearings, the appropriations committee identified $1,053,338 from Ministry of Health special revenue (that) was not included (in the bill originally introduced in mid-August),” said Finance Minister Jack Ading before the revised budget was adopted Friday. The Marshall Islands’ fiscal year starts on October 1.
The Marshall Islands budget shows the country is heavily reliant on the United States and Taiwan, which together are providing $93.2 million — 70 percent — of the national budget of the country.
No funding for TB and leprosy programs was included in the original budget plan despite these being major health concerns in both the Marshall Islands and the United States, where thousands of Marshall Islanders now live. At an August 30 U.S.-Marshall Islands annual budget meeting, U.S. officials said they would not release any of the $6.8 million U.S. funding earmarked for FY 2012 to the Ministry of Health until “the Marshall Islands submits and (U.S.-Marshall Islands budget committee) approves a health sector budget that demonstrates how leprosy will be eliminated and multiple drug resistant tuberculosis will be effectively controlled.”
U.S. federal and state officials have expressed worry about high rates of TB and leprosy in this north Pacific nation that has visa-free access to the United States. “Public health officials are particularly concerned about the rate of certain diseases such as tuberculosis and Hansen’s Disease which have a high incidence in Micronesia and among recent Compact (of Free Association) migrants (to the U.S.),” said the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security budget approved earlier this month.
The new Marshall Islands budget adds $200,000 for a drug resistant TB program and $89,646 for leprosy. The Marshall Islands TB rate of 207 per 100,000 population in 2009 was more than 20 times higher than the state of Hawaii, which has the highest incidence of TB in the U.S. The Marshalls has also reported two new drug resistant TB cases this year, continuing a problem first discovered in 2004.
The biggest winners in the new national budget are the education and health sectors, which combined will receive 45 percent of the $132.2 million.
In a budget statement, Ading highlighted “the high operational costs of statutory authorities,” naming the two government utility companies, Air Marshall Islands, the coconut processing plant and the government-owned hotel, Marshall Islands Resort.
He called on the utilities to “aggressively collect revenues and clear debts,” while recommending the government sell its hotel and privatize the national airline.
The Finance Minister said the government is facing budget challenges from the “continuous deterioration of major infrastructure and the need for renovation and maintenance.”
