The government’s Appropriations Bill tabled last week with an expenditure budget of $56.9 million dollars for the financial year 1st of July until June 30th, 2023, an increase of $8.2 million from the FY budget ending June 30th.
A large portion of this budget is for the operational recurrent budget of$46,912,000 and $10 million dollars for projects with the investment and development projects.
The ministry with the most budget allocation is the Ministry of Social Services with more than $13 million and the Ministry of Natural Resources will receive $2.2 million for the new financial year.
| Ministry of Social Services (Education, Health, Taoga Niue, Justice, Lands, Surveys, Community Services) | $13,606,867 |
| Commercial and Trading (Niue Tourism & Bulk Fuel) | $7,381,000 |
| Ministry of Infrastructure (Utilities, Transport, Civil & Quarry, Niue Power) | $7,303,385 |
| Central Agencies (Premier and Cabinet, Niue Assembly, Secretary to Government, PMCU, Crown Law, Public Service Commission, Police) | $6,960,621 |
| Ministry of Finance (Treasury, Tax & Customs, Economic Development, Trade & Investment, Immigration, Statistics) | $3,329,128 |
| Ministry of Natural Resources (Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries, Environment, Met Office) | $2,291,086 |
The government’s Investment and Development expenditure for major projects for the new budget is $5,940,000.
In the Tagelagi government’s first election budget there is an increase of $8.2 million budget from the current FY 2021/22 budget.
Bulk Fuel is expecting to spend $3 million dollars more than last year’s budget of $4,343,950.
The new Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Social Services both increased their expenditure budget by $1.2 million compared to the last budget.
The ministry of Infrastructure also budgeted an increase of $1.17 million more than last year’s budget.
The Appropriations bill is now with the Fono Ekepule’s Public Accounts Committee and will be returned to the Fono in June.
BCN News will provide more coverage of the Budget in our next bulletins.