Total Government expenditure in FY98 will increase by 15 per cent to $27.2 billion. This is more than double the expected nominal GDP growth rate, which will provide some fiscal stimulus to the domestic economy. As in past years, we have however continued to keep a firm rein on operating expenditure, which will rise by 7.8 per cent to $15.5 billion. This is 9.8 per cent of GDP, up marginally from 9.7 per cent of GDP in FY97. On the other hand, development expenditure is expected to jump by 25 per cent to $11.7 billion, carried by the momentum of economic and infrastructural development which began in recent years. This accounts for 7.5 per cent of GDP, up by more than 1 percentage point from 6.3 per cent of GDP in FY97.

I will now highlight the salient features of this year's expenditure budget against the backdrop of our budgetary policies.