The GOJ 2012-13 Budget (for discussion* purposes only)
Visualizing the Budget to Show where your taxes will get spent in 2012/13
An important feature of Budget Transparency, according to emerging International best practice, is making budget information available and accessible to CIvil Society (NGOs, journalists, citizens, etc.) in such a way that it provides a basis for discussions, participation and provides mechanisms for greater media / civil society engagement in the entire budget process. The 2012/13 GOJ Budget was published through traditional channels:
GOJ/MOF Website: http://www.mof.gov.jm/budgets/expenditure.html
Media/Gleaner: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/budget2012-2013-expenditures/
with subsequent commentary/analysis by various journalists and commentators.
This site presents the GOJ 2012/13 budget from different perspectives using Open Data / visualization tools. This is an evolving initiative, that will seek to encourage and build capacity for more effective data journalism.
| Allocation of Recurrent, Capital, Debt Expenditure: This examines the budgetary allocation through the lens of recurrent, capital and debt spend. The alarming proportion of the country's resources that go to debt servicing, with an equally alarming proportionately anemic allocation to the capital investments required to build capacity and support sustained growth, is vividly illustrated. |
*NB. Budget data derived from scraping pdf documents published on the Jamaica Ministry of Finance website: http://www.mof.gov.jm/budget/estimates/FY%202012-2013.
There may be slight differences between the figures presented on this site and the final budget annoubnced by the Minister of Finance in Parliament on Thursday May 24, 2012.