SXMElections.com

PHILIPSBURG-Prime Minister William Marlin is unconcerned with opposition Members of Parliament’s (MP) criticism of the budget, which was debated in the Central Committee on Monday, February 8.

“When government presented a budget, in all my years in the political arena, only once or twice in the history that you have an opposition sort of agreeing with the government on parts of a budget,” Prime Minister Marlin said.

He noted that it’s election year and as such opposition members will try to give a negative impression of the budget. “The draft of the budget was prepared by…the government they supported at the time,” Marlin disclosed. “One would expect that whenever the budget is voted on in Parliament next week, the eight members supporting the government would vote in favor for and it is expected generally those not supporting the government would vote against,” he added.

The Prime Minister defended the quality of the budget and said that some of the MPs who indicated they would not be supporting the budget had not even read it.

Minister of Finance Richard Gibson

Last week, Minister of Finance Richard Gibson, stressed that the major task concerning the budget will not be the meetings in Parliament and the approval of the budget, but for the various departments and ministries sticking to the budget. He was keen to point out the importance of the country remaining within budget.

“The real task really comes thereafter—to make certain that everyone sticks to the budget and that they don’t exceed their allotments,” Gibson said. He said then that he was optimistic that the country will be able to exceed its revenue targets, but this money must be earned first before more can be spent.