2018/19 Budget Communication 2018_2019 BUDGET COMMUNICATION | Page 74

On the basis of this in-year expenditure restraint
measure, and our ongoing fiscal vigilance, we have
succeeded, based on the projected fiscal results for the
2017/18 fiscal year, in reducing expenditure on the wage bill
and purchases of goods and services by some $120 million,
or 10.3 per cent, from the amounts budgeted for these items.
As subventions to the State-Owned Enterprises represent an
important portion of primary recurrent expenditure, at
roughly one-quarter of the total, it is clear that reductions in
this area are also warranted and necessary to the
achievement of our fiscal goals. However, as I outlined
earlier, any such reductions are dependent on those
enterprises implementing much-needed transformation and
modernization exercises that realistically can only be
achieved over time. The senior management teams of these
entities have been directed to do so.
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