KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Senate on Friday approved the Appropriations Bill, which authorises the Government to spend funds allocated in the2015/16 budget.
The Senate’s approval means that the revenue and expenditure estimates for the fiscal year have now been passed by both Houses of Parliament, and are ready for implementation four days before the current fiscal year, 2014/15, ends on March 31.
Closing the debate, Minister of Justice Senator Mark Golding, who was acting as leader of government business in the absence of Senator AJ Nicholson, insisted that Jamaica was not in a recession.
“In fact, business and consumer confidence are significantly up, and foreign direct investments are flowing in much larger volumes than in prior years,” Golding said.
Opposition Senator, Robert Montague, however claimed that the budget has “no road map for growth, no details on major projects, no provisions for small and medium-sized businesses, nothing for manufacturers, nothing for farmers and nothing for civil servants”.
“What we have, however, is taxation, taxation, taxation and more taxation,” he stated.
The estimates were approved in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, following the annual budget debate.
