KINSTON, Jamaica – An additional $1 billion will be spent in the 2008/09 financial year to widen the social safety net, to include Jamaicans who have difficulty making ends meet.
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, who made the announcement as he opened the 2008/09 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives yesterday (April 10), said that the initiative will also benefit Jamaicans, who are experiencing greater difficulty coping with the rapid increases in food prices due to global market conditions.
“This is a more target approach to assisting the poor and marginalised,” he stated.
In the meantime, he informed that a Constituency Development Fund will be established, with $2.4 billion to be allocated equally among all 60 constituencies. “Accordingly, allocations will move from $3 million per constituency under the previous Social and Economic Support Programme to $40 million per constituency,” the Finance Minister said.
“The Government will ensure that these funds are expended in a transparent and accountable manner, while ensuring full participation in the decision-making on project priorities at the community level,” he added.
He said that the implementation of the Constituency Development Fund will be managed in a rigorous fashion and Members of Parliament and implementation agencies are encouraged to ensure the highest degree of probity and inclusiveness as it is rolled out this fiscal year.
