St. John’s , 31^st March…….. The Government of Prime Minister the Hon. W. Baldwin Spencer on Wednesday unveiled its “Agenda for Change” during the presentation of the 2004 Budget of over five hundred million dollars.

The Budgeted Recurrent Expenditure is $563, 676, 063, while the Recurrent Revenue stands at $541, 091, 412 – a deficit of $22, 584, 651.

Minister of Finance and the Economy, Dr. the Hon. Errol Cort while delivering the Budget, outlined that the Government intends to finance this deficit by 

pursuing a policy of privatization among selected publicly held assets, with a view toward creating the opportunity for citizens and residents to participate in the ownership of these assets.
 

“This is a mammoth challenge that my Government intends to confront aggressively.  We intend to review and update the country’s debt profile over the next ninety days so that we could give an account to the public of Antigua and Barbuda ,” Dr. Cort noted.

The Ministry of Education, Human Development and Culture also received a huge share of the budgetary allocations.  Thirteen point nine six (13.96%) of the recurrent expenditure or $78, 690, 853 will go towards this division of government.

According to Dr. Cort, “My Government is committed to raising the literacy rates and to promoting civic pride and energizing the socio-cultural awareness of our people.  In this regard, we intend to reform the Ministry of Education to allow for the more effective management of our school system.” 

The Health, Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry under Minister John Maginley received 13.54% or $76, 346, 307 of the Budget.  It was pointed out that the first year of the United Progressive Party’s term in office will focus on redefining the role of the Community Sports and Games Department and the National Sports Council.

“The budgetary allocations to Youth Affairs will be utilized to mobilize a National Youth Council which will be designed to facilitate the execution of youth empowerment programmes and a Youth Business Development Project as a dedicated business incubator for young persons between eighteen and thirty years of age,” Dr. Cort outlined.