Finance Minister Eugene Cox yesterday hinted that Government would cut its spending next year, with all departments going through rigorous checking and rethinking all their expenditure.

Speaking to the business community at a post-Budget breakfast meeting organised by the Chamber of Commerce at the Hamilton Princess, Mr. Cox said that four departments had been through zero budgeting - a process where instead of adding inflation to the department's cost automatically, it is looked at afresh.

And he told the businessmen and women that he hoped by the next budget all the departments would have gone through the zero-based budgeting process.

And Mr. Cox revealed that he had wanted all Government departments to look at their annual budget in this way from the beginning of the Progressive Labour Party's tenure.

"Zero-based budgeting - we would have liked to that in the first year," he told about 150 members of the business community. "This past year we did about four, and we will try for next year to have them all."

But during the budget spending in current expenditures went up overall by 2.6 percent or $14.7 million after large hikes in health, labour and home affairs and transport. Spending in current expenditures, which is used to finance recurring or non-capital projects, stood at $585.53 million for 2002/03 compared to $566.56 million a year earlier.

Mr. Cox revealed that both the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Community Affairs and Sport had been through the process and had each saved money.

The budget allocations for tourism fell by 5.3 percent or nearly $2 million to $35.6 million and community affairs, youth and sport lost $1.9 million or 27.1 percent to $11.1 million.

He said: "The Tourism Department has been one department where there has been zero-based budgeting, and by next time around we will have the results of that.

"We also have an excellent one in Youth and Sport, where people have been quite innovative. You start with a blank sheet and look at all the options, and it shows what can be done."

And he added: "Instead of putting 2.8 percent on top of $28 million, we look at what we are doing and see if things have changed and maybe if we can cut them out or find a new way of doing things. The results have been very good."

The Economic Review, which details current expenditure and was released on Friday revealed the extent to which Government had tried to cut spending following September 11 and the threat of possible recession.

It said: "In response to the events of September 11, the Government put in place measures to reduce overall expenditures. "A moratorium was placed on non-essential overtime and non-essential overseas travel, a funding freeze was placed on vacant posts and there was a suspension of purchases of noncritical capital items including furniture, equipment and vehicles."

And it pointed to underspending in the year 2001-02 and said the revised estimate for total expenditures for fiscal 2001-02 was $643.4 million "which is $39.7 million below budget".

The Review continued: "As a result the overall deficit fell from the expected level of $55.8 million to $34.4 million."