The Finance Committee will reconvene today (8 October) to consider government requests for additional spending not included in the 2026 Budget.
Opposition MP Roy McTaggart, speaking on Radio Cayman’s ‘For the Record’ programme on 7 October, said about CI$45 million in additional appropriations is being sought.
The largest request is for $17.5m for tertiary medical care at local and overseas institutions (appropriation NGS 55), he said.
The member explained that would take the year’s total for the appropriation to about $60m, from an original $43m.
The requests follow $134.3m in extra government spending approved in June. Those appropriations included education, land acquisitions and combatting illicit finance.
While opposition members intend to question ministers about the unplanned spending, they are also likely to support the requests, according to deputy opposition leader Kenneth Bryan.
He called the requests “bad budgeting” but agreed that needs had increased in certain areas, like social programmes due to the cost of living.
He also recognised the increased demand on Premier André Ebanks in financial services, as Cayman prepares for the fifth-round mutual evaluation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force.
“We have to wait to hear what the ministers are saying,” he told Radio Cayman.
“So, there’s high possibility that we will agree with the approvals, and we ourselves in the official opposition have asked for increases in certain different areas of our economy, of our social welfare, and so forth.”
The meeting, starting at 1pm in the House of Parliament in George Town, can be followed live on the government’s YouTube channel, CIGtv network and Radio Cayman.
