It’s Budget time – General Revenue and Appropriation Bill to be presented to the House on Friday

By Aaron Humes: For the fourth time since taking office, Prime Minister John Briceño is expected to rise on Friday morning at the National Assembly to introduce, per its usual short title, “A Bill for an Act to appropriate certain sums of money for the use of the Public Service for the financial year ending March 31, 2025.”

The General Revenue and Appropriation Bill, commonly and informally called the Budget, is the primary instrument by which Belize functions – if there is no money to do anything, nothing gets done.

It is the responsibility and legal authority of the Minister of Finance, which every Prime Minister has been since Independence, to “prepare and lay before the House of Representatives in each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditures of Belize for the next following financial year,” per Section 115 of the Constitution. Subsection 2 further provides that “The heads of expenditure contained in the estimates…shall be included in a Bill, to be known as an Appropriation Bill, providing for the issue from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the sum necessary to meet that expenditure and the appropriation of those sums for the purposes specified therein.”

The first reading usually takes the form of a ceremonial speech that typically outlines the Government’s priorities for the forthcoming fiscal year and a review of the regional, international, and national economic performance including debt stock, employment, and other financial indicators. The Prime Minister has indicated that this year’s Budget will include no new taxes and he is expected to talk up the boost of a return to form for tourism with record tourist arrivals in the first two months of 2024 and the plans to sustain the major agricultural industries and associated manufacturing.

The Act contains as prescribed each of the Ministries of the Government and associated departments along with the estimated monies appropriated for each. The five major parts of the Budget are recurrent expenditure (monies spent every year by each Ministry, for instance on salaries); capital two expenditure (local capital programs which are funded from our resources); capital three expenditure (funded from external loan and grant resources); capital transfer and net lending; and amortization. The Ministry of Finance is typically the biggest spender, followed by the Ministries of Education, Health, Home Affairs, and National Defence and Border Security. Specific offices including the Judiciary, Auditor General, and Public Prosecutions and bodies such as the Elections and Boundaries Commission and Public Service Commission are directly funded. Also usually presented is an Official Charities Motion to fund organizations deemed worthy of providing public service.

After the first reading the Budget is debated at a later date, starting with a response from the Leader of the Opposition, after which other members weigh in. A vote is taken at the end of the debate which last year went on for three days, after which the Bill goes to the Senate for a marathon debate, although it cannot be voted down for good as it would simply go back to the House as a money bill. The Budget is thereafter enacted by the Governor-General’s assent on April 1.

We will have full coverage of the reading of the Budget on Friday from Belmopan.

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