The Annual Budget for the 2023/2024 financial year have been approved by Parliament with a 14-0 votes on Wednesday evening, just before the Friday 30th June deadline.
After what seemed to be inadequate debate by members on the budget, it was approved without opposition. There was also very little or no public consultation.
With the approval in place, there are still seven annual reports from government ministries and entities that have not been submitted to the House; five of those are ministries under the Prime Minister.
It is the biggest budget on record of $784.2 million pa’anga, $19.5m more than last year’s, which was the biggest budget on record then. It is also the second budget presented by the current Government of Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku.
Minister of Finance, Tiofilusi Tiueti said the new budget focuses on economic recovery, greater resilience and sustainability.
He also said that after comparing the revenue collection and government expenditure for the new financial year, there is a budget deficit of $27.2 million.
The biggest allocation in the budget went to the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Finance and National Planning, 18% each; followed by the Ministry of Education and Training with 17%; and a 9% allocation for both the Ministry of Health and MEIDECC.
Of the total $784.2 million budget, $419.5 million comes from government revenue; and $364.7 comes from donor partners, 26.4% is cash ($96.3m) while $268.4 is in kind.
The total budget for the 2022/2023 financial years was $764.7 million pa’anga.
The main difference in the new financial year’s record budget from last year’s is the government’s loan repayment of $67.1 million for the new financial year, an increase of $23.5 from the $43.6 million allocated in the last financial year.
The increase is because of the loan repayment to China, which the government announced that repayment would start in the new financial year.