Yesterday, Grenada’s Minister with responsibility for Finance, Hon. V. Nazim Burke, presented the 2009 budget to the House of Representatives. The budget was presented under the theme “Strengthening Economic Management and Building a Platform for Sustained Prosperity.” The Finance Minister outlined the priority areas for his government in 2009. These areas are:  Strengthening Economic Management  Improving the Business Climate  Fostering a genuine Multipartite Partnership  Accelerating Tourism Development  Revitalizing Agriculture and Fisheries  Pursuing Energy potential and Energy Efficiency  Improving access to quality health care  Re-positioning Education and Human Resource Development  Fast Tracking Youth Empowerment  Tackling Cost of Living The 2009 Estimates of Expenditure provides for a total expenditure of $675.9 million. This can be broken down into Current Expenditure $420.4 million; Capital (Development) Expenditure $179.9 million and Principal Repayments: $75.6 million. The five largest allocations are for:  Public Debt – $130.1 million (or 19.2%)  Ministry of Education and Human Resources - $110.4 million (or 16.3%)  Ministry of Health - $63.9 million (or 9.5%)  Ministry of Finance - $60.8 million (or 9.0%)  Police - $49.3 million (or 7.3%) The total current revenue for 2009 is projected at $488.0 million, 2.8 percent higher than collections in 2008. This projection includes $259.6 million from Customs and Excise and $195.4 million from Inland Revenue. On Monday December 15, Opposition Leader, Hon. Dr. Keith Mitchell is expected to take the floor to reply to the 2009 budget presentation. While speaking to the press in the aftermath of Hon. Nazim Burke’s presentation, Dr. Mitchell stated that he would have liked if the Finance Minister had given more credit to the previous administration for the work it has done. In commenting on the drop in petroleum prices, Dr. Mitchell said that this should not come as a surprise because based on agreements signed, the price should have been dipping since October of this year. He pointed to regional countries where the price of petroleum products is already down after a spike in prices earlier on during the year. Wallace J.A Inside Grenada News