by Linda Straker
- Grenada received US$44 million policy payment from CCRIF within 14 days after Hurricane Beryl
- Government invoked clauses in debt agreements to request the suspension of debt payments
- November–December is traditional period to present budget
Grenada’s 2025 Budget or Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure will not be presented during the traditional period of November–December, but instead will be presented during the first quarter of 2025. This will be the first time in 10 years that the budget will be presented within a fiscal year.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said on Wednesday that the decision came after significant disruptions caused by Hurricane Beryl in July, which left widespread damage mainly to the north of the country. However, as a founding member of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) Segregated Portfolio Company, Grenada received a US$44 million policy payment within 14 days.
“First of all, we’ve had a significant disruption caused by Hurricane Beryl. We only recently passed the supplemental budget, which also includes addressing the damage caused by Beryl. We’ve had to take several actions, including suspending some parts of the Fiscal Management and Resilience Act,” he told journalists during the news conference.
The Prime Minister explained that Government invoked clauses in debt agreements to request the suspension of debt payments, allowing the country to redirect funds towards rebuilding and recovery.
The Ministry of Finance is currently holding budget consultations throughout the country with different stakeholders as part of the budget preparation process. The Prime Minister said that the additional time will be used to engage in broader consultations with stakeholders and citizens, ensuring that the final budget reflects the nation’s most pressing needs and long-term goals.
“We believe it will give us more opportunity to have deeper, more meaningful, and more extensive engagement with our citizens and stakeholders as we prepare the budget,” Mitchell said.
Section 5 of the Public Finance Management Act describes the fiscal year for Grenada from 1 January to 31 December each year, while Section 15 instructs that the Finance Minister shall submit to the Standing Committee on Finance at least 2 months before the end of the fiscal year, the annual estimates of the Government for the following fiscal year, even if there is a presentation of the budget within the fiscal year.
This means that although the presentation will be done within the first quarter, members of the Finance Committee in Parliament must approve it 2 months before its presentation. The Finance Committee comprises all elected members of Parliament or those in the Lower House.
The legislation also guides the process of legalising a late presentation of the budget. “Where the Appropriation Act for a financial year has not come into operation at the commencement of the financial year for any reason, the minister is authorised to collect revenues and approve such expenditure necessary to three months from the beginning of that financial year or the coming into operation of the Appropriation Act, whichever is the earlier,” says Section 21 of the Act.
It further guides that such expenditures shall not, in total, exceed one-fourth of the approved budget of the previous fiscal year, and in the case of capital expenditures, only expenditures that in the previous financial year were contemplated to continue shall be authorised for such spending.
“On the coming into force of the Appropriation Act, any provisional expenditures pursuant to subsection one shall be deemed to have been paid out for corresponding services in the estimates for which provision was made under the Appropriation Act and shall be accounted for accordingly,” the legislation further guides.
