Government spending is "totally out of control" said Opposition Finance spokesman Bob Richards as it confessed to an extra $40 million blown this financial year.

Figures released yesterday show another $14.4 million in current account spending which, added to the $6 million deficit already noted in the Budget, put the new deficit at beyond $20 million said Mr. Richards. More than half of the current account figures in the supplementary estimate sheet comes from the Ministry of Social Rehabilitation, with $3 million for psycho-educational development and $5.3 million for social assistance.

And the figures reveal Government plans to finish spending another $26 million on capital spending in the 2008/09 financial year beyond the extras admitted to in the current Budget book.

There's $6 million for a transport headquarters at the second cruise terminal in Dockyard, while another $5 million has gone on a waste water treatment plant there.

Mr. Richards said such items should have been foreseen and that $40 million was a very high figure for supplementary estimates.

He said: "They normally slip things through the cracks but this is much larger than normal."

The figures made Finance Minister Paula Cox's call for cuts of 10.5 percent because of the financial downturn ring hollow, said Mr. Richards.

"There's been no effort to reign in spending. It's like they are trying to spend more money rather than less. The bottom line is Government spending is totally out of control.

"Why bother with a budget at all if you are going to blow the doors off like this?"

The figures reveal another $3.4 million on golf course improvements and $1 million for amalgamating airport fire services into the fire service.

Refurbishment at Whitney Institute Middle School cost $2.6 million. Other unspecified education capital costs include a $1.7 million bathroom renovation, $900,000 on school safety and $1.2 million on capital works.

And Government yesterday tabled a bill to allow it to raise its debt limit to $1 billion, from the current $550 million.

The Government Loans Amendment Bill 2009 will allow the Finance Minister to suspend payments into the sinking fund a fund set up to help pay off long-term debt.