2023 Budget passed to tune of $412M; Now with Governor for assent
The budget will comprise of comprise of $340,872,400 for recurrent expenditure; $49,428,600 for capital expenditure; $7,148,810 in contribution to various statutory funds; and $15,521,300 towards repayment of the principal on our debt according to information.
Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley wrapped up the debate following contributions made by Members of the House both on the 20th and 21st of December 2022.
As part of his presentation, the Premier thanked the members for their contributions to the debate on the merits and principles of the bill titled, Appropriation Act, 2023.
Gov't now position to move forward
With the passage of the 2023 Budget estimates, the Government of the Virgin Islands is now positioned to move forward with its public programmers and key infrastructure projects.
Premier Wheatley emphasized that his government is taking steps to ensure that the BVI meets its requirements outlined in his budget speech under the theme: 'Resilience, Revenue, Reform, and Recovery: The Virgin Islands in Transition' by the end of the 2023 financial year,” a release on the initiative noted.
The Premier affirmed that the budget represents a simple but largely comprehensive matrix of what his government has accomplished during the 2021 year and what the priorities and parameters of our mission in the upcoming year and beyond should be, given the international geopolitical and economic climate, and the situation closer to home.
The Bill is now in its final stage before it can be fully utilized and has been presented to Governor John R. Rankin to be assented.
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16 Responses to “2023 Budget passed to tune of $412M; Now with Governor for assent”
It s XMAS and you still.poisonning Us
A few week ago a suggested $399÷ Million dallars was spolen of. A few persons suggest the it have been rounded to $400M. Now the present budget estimate (gestimate is aproximately, if my memmory served me right, $14M higher.
Commonly in the BVI millions of dollars are uncollected, and milliins of dollars are still unaccounted for. Who truly to believe, and trust,? Must we beliwve and trust this Ununified self proclaimed Unity Governmenr? Must we believe and trust in the Uk?
Must we believe, and trust in ourselves? No! Take chances with man, but trust only in God our Creator
here is a biblical scripture that says, "Let God be true, and every man a liar.
However, our Governor, John J. Rankin is in charged to approve or not to approve our budget estimate, iike it or not.
Don't forget that honest accountibity of our, the public, money being spend by our political leaders on our behalf is necessary in order to experence good governance for all our citizens of the BVI, and visitors, too. Agree?
The NVI supposedly attained financial self-sufficiency in 1979 under Dr. Willard Wheatley (Premier Natalio Wheatley grandfather) administration. In essence, it canned grant -in-aid but not the control of the colonial masters. Is the BVI truly financually independent, ie, in control of finsncial destiny and having to ask Mother may I? No. The UK-appointed colonialist Govenor John Rankin (does it mek sence in 2022 for a Governor to supposedly represent a people who had no say in his/her election or appointment? No. That is undemocratic). The UK-appointed has control over BVI’s budget by a) power of assent ( Guv has to give assent to budget bill before a penny from the 2023 budget can be spent to day retired civil servants), b) reserved power given through the constitution ( Guv can unilaterally appropriate/allocate funds from budget not allocated by HoA., Protocols for Effective Financial Management, etc. The BVI may have attained finsncial independence but still has to beg Mother May I. The current constitutional arrangement leans too much on a dependency model. The CRC must recommend and government negotiate a less dependency model new constitutional arrangement.