Under law, the amount of money that the Government can spend from the public purse must be approved by the National Assembly. In the event that the Government spends more than what is budgeted for any given year, the Ministry of Finance must go back to the House to request the approval of supplementary appropriation bills.

The last time such bills were laid before the National Assembly was in April, 2004, when the Government asked for the approval of $93.2 million in overspending for 2001/2002, and another $95.9 million for 2002/2003.

The 2003/2004 approved estimates included $417 million in recurrent spending, $60.7 million in Capital II spending and $77 million in Capital III spending, for a total of $555 million. This Supplementary Appropriation 2003/2004 would take that approved spending up to $667 million.

This is more than the spending approved for the 2005/2006 budget in January, 2005. With the various adjustments announced since January, 2005, the total spending programmed for this budget year is $593 million.

(Ed. Note: As UDP Senator Ambrose Tillett had remarked in the 2004 sitting of the House at which the prior supplementary appropriation bills were presented, the money has already been spent, so legislators really have no choice but to ?rubber stamp? the bill. The Senator said it was already fait accompli.)