Ja: Bad economic news

MINISTER OF Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies, yesterday presented Parliament with a $329.8 billion proposal for Government spending for the new financial year, which starts today.

This 26 per cent increase over his budget proposal last year should lead to modest expectations for the provision of goods and services. However, most of the $50 billion increase will go to pay debt.

Debt payment should amount to $228.4 billion, an increase of $58.9 billion, or 35 per cent over the amount spent last year. In this budget, 69 cents in every dollar of spending will go to pay debt.