NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (December 11, 2020) — Following three days of debate, the Nevis Appropriation (2021) Ordinance, 2020 was passed unanimously with no amendments, at a sitting of the Nevis Island Assembly at Hamilton House on Thursday, December 10, 2020.
The Bill, which appropriates certain sums of money for the use of the Public Service of the Island of Nevis for the financial year commencing January 01, 2021, and ending on December 31, 2021, was tabled before Hon. Farrel Smithen, President of the Assembly by Hon. Mark Brantley, Premier of Nevis and Minister of Finance, at the start of the sitting on December 08, 2020. It was seconded by Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Deputy Premier of Nevis.
The Ordinance makes provision for the sum of $237,733,300.00 to be paid out of the Nevis Island Consolidated Fund.
The total allocated to Recurrent Expenditure is 174, 893,300 and $62,340,000 is allocated to Capital Expenditure.
During his presentation of the Budget Address, the Minister of Finance spoke of the major allocations planned for the NIA’s expenditure for 2021.
“The major allocations in our expenditure are as follows:
The Office of the Premier is allocated funding in the amount of $7.7 million representing 3.2 percent of the total budget. Included in this amount are funds allocated to support the security services in our fight against criminal activities.
“The Ministry of Finance is allocated funding in the amount of $80.6 million representing 33.9 percent of the total budget. Included in this amount are funds allocated to meet our Debt Servicing obligations.
“The Ministry of Communications and Works et al is allocated funding in the amount of $34.2 million representing 14.4 percent of the total budget. Included in this amount are funds allocated for our infrastructure development programme, namely the upgrading of our road network, maintaining of government buildings and other structures along with provisions for upgrading our water services.
“The Ministry of Agriculture et al is allocated funding in the amount of $12.6 million representing 5.3 percent of the total budget. Included in this amount are funds allocated for our food sustainability and security, disaster mitigation and upgrading of our processing facilities.
“The Ministry of Health and Gender Affairs is allocated funding in the amount of $35.6 million representing 15.0 percent of the total budget. Included in this amount are funds allocated for providing improvements in the quality and delivery of health care, an increase in the remuneration for our nurses along with the completion of construction work under the Alexandra Hospital Expansion Programme.
“The Ministry of Education, Library Services and Information Technology is allocated funding in the amount of $34.2 million representing 14.4 percent of the total budget. Included in this amount are funds allocated for the delivery of quality education to our people, executing work under the CDB [Caribbean Development Bank] TVET [Technical Vocational Education and Training] Enhancement Program and general maintenance of our educational facilities.
“The Ministry of Social Development, Culture, Youths and Sports is allocated funding in the amount of $16.1 million representing 6.7 percent of the total budget. Included in this amount are funds allocated for the delivery of our social protection agenda and improvements to our sporting facilities,” he said.