Tax Revenue is expected to fall by 5.4 percent

The Current Estimates

 The 2021 Current Expenditure (exclusive of Amortization and Sinking Fund Contributions) amounts to is six hundred and ninety-eight million, one hundred and twenty-five thousand, five hundred and eleven dollars ($698,125,511).

Current Revenue is estimated at six hundred and forty-seven million, three hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars ($647,386,000).   Consequently, there is a current account deficit of $50.7 million in these estimates.

Current Revenue

The 2021 Current Revenue of $647.4 million is 4.8 percent or $32.7 million below the amount budgeted in 2020. The deterioration in Revenue performance in 2021 is reflective of the slowdown in real economic activity projected for the year and the tax policy stance taken as a consequence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Revenue from tax sources is expected to contribute $554.0 million to the consolidated fund in 2021, while Non-tax Revenue is estimated to gross $93.4 million.

Tax Revenue is expected to fall by 5.4 percent as the major tax types are expected to contribute as follows:

Taxes on Income and Profits is estimated to fall by $7.0 million or 4.3 percent;

Taxes on Goods and Services are expected to drop by$7.2 million or 3.7 percent and

 Taxes on International Trade and Transactions to go down by 7.8 percent or $13.7 million

Non-Tax Revenue collection in 2021 is estimated at $93.4 million. This figure is 1.0 percent less than the amount budgeted in 2020. The amount in the 2021 budget under Non-Tax Revenue is expected to come mainly from Sales of Goods and Services which is projected to generate $75.0 million in revenue.

This amount is estimated to be $1.2 million more than the amount collected in 2020. Revenue from Non-Tax sources is also expected to come from inflows from Property Income ($9.7 million) and Other Revenue ($8.7 million).

Recurrent Expenditure

The total estimated recurrent expenditure, inclusive of the amortization and sinking fund contributions is $895.2 million. This figure is 2.2 percent or $19.6 million above the amount budgeted in 2020. The Recurrent Expenditure for 2021 is made up as follows:

The following are the changes recorded in the three sub-components of Total Recurrent Expenditure for the 2021 budget compared to that of 2020:

• Current Expenditure increased by 3.0 percent;
• Amortization is up 14.8 percent; and
• Sinking Fund Contributions decreased by 51.1 percent;

Under the rubric of Current Expenditure, the following items account for the budgeted increase in 2021:

• Wages and Salaries an increase of $14.8 million or 4.6 percent;
• Other Transfers, (which includes Social Assistance, Training, Grants and Contributions to local, regional and international organizations) is expected to realize an increase of $3.1 million or 2.5 percent

 The summary of the recurrent expenditure budget by economic categories is as follows: