Pre-Budget consultations – are we just going through the motions?

The Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the 2023 national Budget are expected to be presented to Parliament today, Tuesday, December 13, to meet the requirements according to the law. Following the presentation there will be debate and should the Estimates be approved by the House as expected, Budget 2023 will be presented, debated and approved (expectedly) no later than February 2023.

While the timetable of these important exercises is dictated by law, the presentation and debate on the Estimates in particular face a seasonal distraction in the busy Christmas season. It also suffers in demanding public attention because since not only are these estimates, but devoid of concrete proposals and with the assurance of the “real thing” to follow, there is a sense that one can wait for another month or so to follow the developments.

The competition experienced by the Budget for our attention is nothing new. In the old days when the Budget was presented during the Carnival season, mid-year, it was the same story. The New Democratic Party government under Sir James Mitchell then changed the presentation and debate to end of year and promptly, Christmas took the place of the Carnival competition.

A promising innovation was made by the Unity Labour Party administration after it took office in 2001, by deciding to somewhat democratize the process through pre-Budget consultations with various interest groups (private sector, trade unions, farmers, clergy and civil society). This was a most welcome development since, at least in theory, it permitted these interest groups to at least have some input in the formulation of the National Budget.

But for one reason or another the consultative process deteriorated in both form and content over the years and began less and less to serve the original noble purpose. It is today a shadow not only of the modest original idea, but more so of the underlying objective itself. Given the current disposition, it is hard to call the Budget the product of a genuine consultative process.

Without apportioning blame, it is in the interests of all that serious effort be made in the future to revive the consultative process and to give it more teeth. The more that different sectors get to have some input into the National Budget, the more it begins to become a document, a set of proposals into which the public has made significant input and which, in theory at least, reflects some of the concerns and proposals of the various social sectors.

We need to go beyond the often sterile Government/Opposition debate and try to facilitate the views and proposals of broad sections of the public. That can only be in the interest of all concerned.