2018/19 Budget Communication 2018_2019 BUDGET COMMUNICATION | Page 73

was being presented a mere three weeks after the election,
the fiscal projections in the Budget largely reflected
preparatory work that had gone on prior to our coming to
office.
In light of that fact, I explicitly stated that, since
our Government was firmly committed to the achievement
of our deficit and debt reduction objectives, we would
implement in-year fiscal adjustments, as needed, to secure a
lower deficit in 2018/19 than was being projected in the
Communication.
And, indeed, the Government did
announce in July an across-the-board 10 per cent reduction
in primary, or discretionary, recurrent expenditure relative to
the sums that had been budgeted. Interest payments and
debt redemption, of course, reflect fixed commitments of the
Government.
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