expenditures were on track with figures projected in his last budget.

Provisional figures released by the Statistics Department this week showing Government expenditures jumped 15 percent in the first nine months of this year, while revenues increased by nine percent were not accurate, he said.

He said audited figures for Government's 1996/97 financial year which ended March 30 differed "quite appreciably'' from the provisional numbers published by Statistics. The audited figures, which have not been made public, will be presented in the next session of Parliament.

"It's a little precarious to make comparisons between this year and last year,'' he said.

In the budget Government projected total expenditure of $527 million, up by 2.5 percent, and revenue of $88 million, up 3.2 percent during fiscal year to the end of March 1998.

The provisional figures released by Statistics showed Government expenditures jumped $20.3 million or about 18 percent to $115.9 million in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. In the first nine months of the year Government spent $389.1 million, an increase of $52.2 or 15 percent over the same period last year.

Meanwhile revenue increased by only seven percent to $127 million in the third quarter this year compared to third quarter last year. During the first nine months of the year Government collected $360.1 million, an increase of about nine percent over the same period last year.

Dr. Gibbons cautioned that the figures were provisional and would need adjustment, and so comparisons between years might not be accurate.

He noted that a large part of the increase in expenditure was due to increases in capital outlays on current projects Government was funding, especially in the second and third quarters. These outlays included spending on middle schools and on CedarBridge Academy.

In the first nine months of this year Government spent $62.4 million in capital outlays, an increase of 51 percent over the same period last year. Dr.

Gibbons said the current account spending was "roughly where we expect it to be'' according to budget projections.

"We have had a remarkable record of being very close to budget in terms of our current account expenditure,'' he said.

He said Government spending was within the "low 20s'' as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) which was the general parameters aimed at. In his budget speech in February Dr. Gibbons said Government might need to review the $185 million statutory debt ceiling. Government policy is to keep debt at about 10 percent of GDP.

Dr. Gibbons yesterday said it was still premature to make any decision.

Government debt was estimated at about $150 million.

"There is not an urgent need to do that right now,'' he said. "We will address that as we go into next year.

Other figures released by the Statistics Department, but which The Royal Gazette was unable to publish in yesterday's edition due to space constraints showed: Residents declared $7.4 million worth of goods from overseas spending during the quarter, an increase of 1.1 percent.

International company formations also showed strong growth. In the international sector, 322 companies were registered during the third quarter, a gain of 19 percent over the same period last year. Local company formations declined to 37 registered in the third quarter, five fewer than the same period last year.

BUSINESSm BUC