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.

 

Budget allocation by Government Functional services - TreeMap As an alternative to the allocation to the structural entities that make up the public sector (i.e. Ministries, Departments & Agencies), the budget can also be examined according to allocation to the various Government functions & services. The visual dominance of debt servicing remains prevalent.

Budget allocation by Government Functional services - BubbleTree

*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.