Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Philip Davis led the mid year budget debate in the House of Assembly on Wednesday.
During his presentation Mr. Davis explained the reason for government’s arrears which are largely due to obligations of State Owned Enterprises (SOE). He said, “when obligation to public corporations are excluded the yearly increase in outstanding balances at the end of December 2025 would have approximate $29 million. To put this into perspective total commitments including SOEs reach 6.3% of the total expenditure budget in the financial year 2025-2026 compared to 3.4% in 2024-2025, a period when most SOEs recorded zero unpaid invoices. Excluding the SOEs however, commitments remain low at just 3.7% of the total expenditure budget up from 3.1% in the financial year 2024-2025.”
According to the Prime Minister government revenue also increased by $66.6 million over the same period last year to a total of $1.5 billion. He said, “the government experienced a net deficit of $342.4 million which represented a decrease of $25.3 million relative to the previous comparable period. However, the primary balance improved significantly to a $3.1 million deficit in the first half of this fiscal year compared to $32.3 million deficit for the first half of 2024-2025.
Mr. Davis assured that there are measures in place to protect us as the current conflict in the Middle East may affect the cost of oil and gas. He said, “electricity bills will not be felt due to this conflict in the short and medium term.”
The mid year budget debate continues in the House of Assembly.
