In the 2010-11 Budget, parliamentary services have been slashed by 24.4 percent — the largest drop in funding for all the ministries.
The cut represents a saving of $178,497. In the budget for 2009-10, parliamentary services received $732,941, which has been reduced in this year’s budget to $554,444.
Parliament resumes to tackle the budget.
The budget statement says, “Given the constrained fiscal environment, the government has decided that legislators should reduce their call on budget resources. To this end, the Civil List has taken a base cut of $0.25 million in member of Parliament travel and further cuts to specific allowances for members.”
The budget for agriculture has been cut by a $141,884 — a reduction of more than 12 percent. Funding has dropped from $1,109,187 to $976,303. One of the justifications for the cutback is that agriculture is “a large informal sector and thus its total contribution to the economy is difficult to quantify.”
However, it was noted that demand was expected to increase in coming years as tourism increased. “There is potential in strategically increasing production to cater for the expectation of increased demand and improve the import substitution gap.”
In the last budget, agriculture was cut by 6 percent, meaning that the industry has lost more than $200,000 in the last two years. This is despite the fact that in the budget policy statement, which was released in March, the government talked about meeting demand for fresh produce by revitalizing agricultural production. In that statement, the finance minister said “this will not only meet our demand for fresh produce but also provide income earning opportunities for our people in the outer islands.”
Although the amount of funding allocated through the budget has dropped, the report does state that there are plans to continue to support agriculture in the southern group islands through the Te One Kura project.
The Financial Services Development Authority suffered the third largest cut, dropping $97,272 — 18 percent of its previous budget. Funding has been reduced from 2009-10’s $540,450 to 2010-11’s $443,178. In spite of this reduction, the budget says that government is “committed to the continuation of the newly established FSDA.”
