Increased remuneration for contract workers attributed to VAT; several regional budgets approved

The Consideration of Estimates for the respective regions, which fall under the purview of the Ministry of Communities, continued today in the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly with billions of dollars in allocations approved.

The Parliamentary Opposition in the Committee of Supply raised several concerns regarding the increases in remuneration for contract workers, security costs and other expenditure falling under the Ministry of Communities.

In response subject Minister, Ronald Bulkan attributed these increases to Value Added Tax. $3.59B was allocated for region two, with the small sum of $438, 970 for Capital Works and $3,26B for current expenditure.

Sums were awarded under the headings Regional administration, Public Works, Agriculture, Education Delivery and Health Services. $5.1B was awarded to region three, which shows a reduction in that region.

There was some amount of contention in the Committee of Supply regarding the budgetary allocation for region four with objections from the Opposition benches after the House Speaker decided to take a vote. The Opposition Chief Whip argued that enough time was not utilized for the scrutinizing of several allocations.

However, by way of a majority vote the $5.88B dollar allocation was approved in the National Assembly for region Four.

Allocations were increased in several areas including regional administration, agriculture, health services and education delivery.