Total expenditure in FY96 will amount to $18.9 billion or 14.4 per cent of GDP. As in previous years, Social and Community Services will take the largest share at 42 per cent. Education alone accounts for half of this. The rest will go into healthcare, public housing subsidy, the environment, community development, and information and the arts. National security accounts for the next largest share at 36 per cent. Spending on economic and infrastructural development accounts for 12 per cent of the expenditure estimates, which includes the development of the transportation system, civil works, research and development, the upgrading of our economy and workforce, and the promotion of inward investments and regionalisation.

Let me now elaborate on the FY96 expenditure proposals.