The National Assembly Tuesday December 9  afternoon gave its stamp of approval to the Appropriation Bill 2004, after three days of deliberations.

This means that the sum of R1,226,635,000 proposed as the national budget for next year, which represents a 10% reduction on or R136,829,000 less than this year's budget, has been approved.

The Appropriation Bill 2004 was presented by Vice-President James Michel in his capacity as Minister for Finance on Tuesday December 2. It received the approval of all members from the majority Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF) party, in the absence of members of the Seychelles National Party (SNP), who had walked out earlier.

Tuesday's session was marked by interventions made by a few members who had not yet given their comments on the Bill in the morning, followed by VP Michel's summing-up address in the afternoon.

Right after that the Assembly constituted itself into committee stage chaired by Honourable Shelton Jolicoeur and approved the 33 heads of expenditure.

The 33 heads approved include budgetary allocations for the President's Office; Vice-President's Office; Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources; Ministry of Tourism and Transport; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Defence; Department of Legal Affairs;  Ministry of Local Government, Sports and Culture; Ministry of Environment; Ministry of Education and Youth; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment; Ministry of Health; Ministry of Land Use and Habitat; Ministry of Industries and International Business; Ministry of Administration and Manpower Development; Department of Internal Affairs; Ministry of Economic Planning; Ministry of Information Technology and Communication; Office of the Ombudsman; Office of the Public Service Appeals Board; Department of Judiciary; Department of Audit; National Assembly Secretariat; Electoral Commissioner's Office; Centralised Payments; Pensions and Gratuities; Subventions to Regulatory Bodies; Subventions to Parastatals; Subventions to Other Bodies; Social Security Contributions; Pension Scheme Contributions and Land Acquisition.  

The largest allocation or 13% of next year's budget has gone to the Ministry of Health with R158,530,000 while the Ministry of Education and Youth is getting R157,264,000.  The budget for both ministries has been reduced by 4% compared to the allocation made this year as part of government measures under the Macro-Economic Reform Programme (Merp) to cut expenditure.

Following the approval of allocation of expenditure, Honourable Andre Pool presented a motion calling for the approval of the supplementary estimates 2002 of R192,192,676. The motion was approved after a brief intervention by Honourable Charles de Comarmond of Cascade who called on the government to ensure that stricter measures to reduce spending are fully implemented so that by the end of next year the sum of supplementary estimates is further brought down. 

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