The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday acknowledged that the Christie administration must now “revisit” its Budgetary revenue and spending forecasts in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Matthew.

“Following the destruction wrought by the hurricane, we have to revisit all of our forecasts with revenue and expenditure. That will be an ongoing process and we will keep the House updated on that,” Michael Halkitis, minister of state for finance, told Parliament yesterday.

“It’s imperative from both a social and economic point of view that we bring relief, restore normalcy and get commerce back to normal as soon as possible,” he added.

“We recognise that we have to move quickly. We can remain slavish tothings like ratios and calculations, or we do the necessary work to ensure that we have the resources.”

Mr Halkitis was speaking in Parliament yesterday during a debate on a resolution to raise $150 million to finance Hurricane Matthew reconstruction efforts.

He told Parliament: “Our preliminary indication is that 60-70 per cent of the funds will be used for restoration of public infrastructure such as roads, public buildings, schools etc.”

The Ministry of Finance has developed a two-tranche bond issue for this purpose; a tranche for commercial banks of up to $120 million, and a tranche for the public of up to $30 million.