With just a few weeks left in this fiscal year, the government  maintains that they will meet their deficit target by the end of the year.

However, on the expenditure side, Finance Minister Peter Turnquest said the government  is  anticipating that they will come some $400 million below the original revenue target.

“We’ve been very careful to try and manage our expectation and manage our expenditure,  given  the fact that we know we were going to lose some revenue due to the concessions and other challenges that we’ve had on the revenue side. 

“Hats  off  to the Ministry and hats off to the government as a whole that have been cooperative in playing their part.  We have been able to meet that without sacrificing any quality or the efficiency of service that we provide,” the Minister of Finance said.    

In  his  midyear budget communication,  the Finance Minister asserted that the government was some $185 million short in revenue.  This received much criticism from the opposition. 

Opposition spokesman on Finance Chester Cooper predicted that the government would miss its revenue projections and miss it badly.