PREPARATIONS for the 2019 National Budget have started and Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has promised that the budget will be presented before the beginning of next year.
The Government hopes to present the 2019 budget by the end of November, said the minister in an invited comment on Saturday.

“I said since 2016 when we implemented the first budget that we will present our budgets [early]… this budget and the last budget of the first term will be presented in advance of the fiscal year,” he said.

Asked about the Public Sector Investments Projects (PSIPs), the minister noted that it is better than last year during the corresponding period, but it is not where he wants it to be.
The PSIP is compiled annually, containing capital investment projects funded under the domestic capital budget, and projects financed through external aid.

Although the PSIP has improved, the minister said they continue to face ‘tremendous’ challenges particularly with foreign financed projects.

“We need bodies on the ground and people who are well experienced with dealing with foreign financial projects… it is difficult because the rules and regulations vary according to the body…we are dealing with the IDB, CDB, World Bank and so forth,” Jordan explained.
He believes that in order to improve the PSIP, they need to train persons faster or find other means of improving it.

In February this year, a critical analysis of PSIPs between 2014 and mid 2017 revealed that the performances of many projects left much to be desired.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon in February said from June 2017, there was a dramatic turnaround.

“Since Cabinet instituted monthly briefings by permanent secretaries to Cabinet, what I can say, there has been a dramatic turnaround in the performance of these projects in the PSIP and that by the end of 2017, all of the agencies…were reporting completions within the rate of 75 to 100 percent.

“The projections for 2018, when we look at them what we saw was that because we had an early budget in November of 2017 for 2018, that works started in 2017 for 2018 and the understanding that we have from almost all of the agencies was that by April, May, June there about, that all of the work that has to be done on contracts would be advertised, tenders dealt with contracts awarded,” the State Minister explained.