Goods and Services
The budget for expenditure on Goods and Services in 2021 is $90.0 million. This represents an 11.1 percent decrease in this category of expenditure.
This category of expenditure consists of several items, including Utilities, Communications Expense, Maintenance Services, Materials & Supplies, Operating Expense, Rental of Assets and others.
In this budget, we were able to increase expenditure in critical areas while at the same time reducing spending on items where the need is not so acute.
The 2021 budget is concentrated in four main functional areas, which account for 80.4 percent of the recurrent Estimates.
- General Public Services where a total of $367.2 million or 41.0 percent of the budget has been allocated;
- Education which accounts for 16.9 percent or $150.9 million of the recurrent budget;
- Economic Affairs where an amount of $96.6 million or 10.8 percent of the recurrent budget has been allocated; and
- Social Protection which accounts for 11.7 percent or $104.8 million of the 2021 recurrent estimate;
Other important strategic priorities of the Government are Health and Public Order & Safety where 9.0 percent and 8.1 percent of the budget has been allocated respectively.
Capital Estimates
The 2021 Capital Estimates amount to $317.4 million. This figure represents a 2.1 percent or $6.6 million increase when compared with the approved capital budget for 2020. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is ranked very high, globally, as one of the countries most prone to natural disasters.
The government is endeavouring to reduce the vulnerability of coastal zones, roads and public infrastructure, and as a consequence, the Public Sector Investment Program (PSIP) for 2021 will continue to focus heavily on improving the resilience of public infrastructure including the construction or repairs to a number of buildings, roads, river and sea defenses, sea and airports and hotels.
In 2021 budget increased attention will be paid to the important economic sectors of Tourism, Construction and Agriculture as these sectors are scheduled to receive targeted interventions.
The social sectors of Health, Education, Social Services and National security will also continue to receive the attention of this government as we strive to strengthen the ability of these sectors to deliver improved public service.
The capital budget in 2021 is concentrated in five (5) Ministries which together account for 87.7 percent or $278.2 million of the capital estimates for 2021. These are:
- Ministry of Transport and Works$47.8 million
- Ministry of Urban Development, $56.8 million
- Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning,$122.1 million
- Ministry of Education, $30.0 million
- Ministry of Agriculture, etc$21.5 million
An analysis of the capital budget by main functional classification heads reveals that 74.0 percent or $234.9 million of the capital budget is accounted for by three (3) of the nine (9) functional heads. These are as follows:
- Economic Affairs –receives a share of 45.2 percent of the capital budget. This investment programme, which is estimated at $143.4 million, is intended to provide the basis to stimulate growth in the main productive sectors of the economy.
- Environmental Protection has been provided with $57.8 million or 18.2 percent of the 2021 capital budget aimed at strengthening the country’s resilience to natural disasters.
- Education has been provided with $33.7 million or 10.6 percent of the capital budget to further enhance the quality of academic, technical/vocational, moral and physical education of Vincentians.
