Premier to give budget address Thursday

Premier Dr. Orlando Smith is scheduled to give the annual budget address Thursday morning at 10 a.m. at the House of Assembly.

This will be Dr. Smith’s second budget address since the National Democratic Party won last November’s elections. The theme of last year’s address was austerity, with Dr. Smith announcing plans to “do more with less.”

The 2012 budget eventually passed by legislators in March set expected revenue at $289,545,000. Expenditure for 2012 was projected to be $259,383,900, about $1.5 million less than the 2011 amount.

No Order Paper had been released as of the Beacon’s print deadline yesterday afternoon, but HOA staffers said they didn’t expect any laws would be introduced or debated after the budget address.

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