The Ministry of Finance is defending the use of the Contingencies Fund to restore $4.6 billion of the $37.4 billion slashed from the originally proposed $220 billion 2014 budget.
In a statement last evening the ministry said that Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh’s authority to tap into the Fund is derived from Section 41 (1)-(7) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act 2003.
Section 41 (2) of the legislation states that “the Minister shall have sole authority for the