Issue 3

Budget Study Centre Issue 3
November 09, 2017

CPDI BUDGET WATCH

Fortnightly Budget News Alerts
 

The budget will show whether the Tories really care about ‘just managing’ families


Frances Ryan (Thursday 9 November 2017)

In politics, there are some ideas that are good in theory but don’t work in practice. Then there are those that were always going to cause harm but turn out to be more damning than even the policy’s architects could have imagined. Increasingly, the benefit freeze is the poster child for the latter category. The government is rightly coming under increasing pressure to halt the roll-out of universal credit.

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NDAA busts budget caps with $626 billion for defense


By Scott Maucione (November 8, 2017)

An authorization for a nearly $700 billion defense budget, a new commercial marketplace for the Pentagon to buy from and a bigger military end strength may become a reality as the House and Senate finished negotiations of the 2018 defense authorization bill this week. The bill will now go to the House and Senate for amendments and passage before being signed into law by the president. The bill includes $692.1 billion

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Iraq cabinet plans to cut Kurdistan share in 2018 federal budget


The Reuters (November 6, 2017)

BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq’s cabinet proposed on Sunday to slash the Kurdish share of the country’s revenue in the 2018 federal budget, a move that Kurdish officials said was aimed to further punish them for a Sept. 25 referendum on independence. A Kurdish man sells banners supporting the referendum for independence for Kurdistan in Erbil, Iraq September 21, 2017.

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Bountiful Budget to spur activities in 2018


The Borneo Post (November 5, 2017)

Specialists and industry leaders were optimistic following Budget 2018’s announcement which allocated a sum of RM280.25 billion centered on improving the lives of Malaysians while ensuring that it covers all sectors of the economy. With overall spending allocated on areas of the economy ranging from education, agricultural, tourism, social subsidies to business incentives, OCBC Bank Treasury Research

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NHC approves budget for 5-year development plan, reviews ongoing projects


Daily Times (November 3, 2017)

ISLAMABAD: Communications Minister Hafiz Abdul Karim on Thursday presided over a meeting of National Highway Council (NHC), at the Ministry of Communications. Communications Minister of State Muhammad Junaid Chaudhry,Communications secretary, National Highway Authority chairman and other members of the council participated in the meeting. The meeting gave approval

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Budget office sees higher deficit than Liberal government’s forecast


CBC news (November 1, 2017)

The parliamentary budget overseer is predicting a budget deficit in the current fiscal year that’s almost $2 billion higher than was forecast in the government’s fall fiscal update last week. The latest report from the parliamentary budget officer says the deficit this year will be $20.2 billion, while Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s last prediction was $18.4 billion. (Morneau’s economic update also included a $1.5 billion

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How economic slowdown is weakening India’s armed forces


The dailyo (October 31, 2017)

The debate about the turbulence in India’s economic health is worrisome for defense procurement plans. The defense budget has been declining over the past decades, with this year’s allocation at a record low of 1.56 per cent of the GDP. With the RBI’s latest report marking down the overall GDP figure for FY 2017- 18, the amount available in the government’s kitty for the next fiscal would be even lower-especially considering

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Germany to confirm size of expected budget surplus next month


The Reuters (October 30, 2017)

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany expects a budget surplus in 2017, but will not know its full extent until Nov. 9 when the finance ministry gets a new assessment of expected tax revenues, acting Finance Minister Peter Altmaier told broadcaster ARD on Sunday. A long-exposure picture shows a container ship, at a loading terminal, in the harbor of Hamburg, Germany April 6, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer Altmaier declined to

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Government proposes $6B budget for 2018


The Phonm penh post (October 30, 2017)

The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a national budget for next year that calls for more than $6 billion in spending, the largest increase ever proposed for the Kingdom, with big boosts for education, defense and the arts. In an executive summary of the draft law released on Friday, the Council of Ministers proposes raising the budget by nearly $1 billion, stating that the budget increases are necessary to run

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EU Says Concerned Over Italy’s 2018 Budget, Adding to Government’s Woes


The New York Times (October 27, 2017)

BRUSSELS – The European Commission sent a letter on Friday to Italy’s finance minister urging clarifications over the country’s planned budget for 2018, adding to Rome’s headaches ahead of elections due by next May. The move could force Rome to cut expenditures or raise taxes to comply with EU fiscal rules. Both are unpalatable measures before elections planned by May and amid deepening political divisions

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Liberals table budget bill to join China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank


The Globe and Mail (October 27, 2017)

The Liberal government has introduced a second large budget bill that includes a new law establishing Canada’s participation in the Beijing- based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Bill C-63, Finance Minister Bill Moreno’s second budget bill of the year, enacts a wide range of measures related to his March budget. Like the first budget bill, it is more than 300 pages, repeating a practice that has faced opposition

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GB Council approves Rs 2.4b budget for 2017-18


The Nation (October 26, 2017)

SKARDU – The Gilgit-Baltistan Council on Wednesday approved a budget with a total outlay of about Rs 2.4 billion for financial year 2017-18 to Gilgit- Baltistan. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who is also the Chairman of the Council, chaired the meeting. The Prime Minister in his remarks at the meeting said that the PML-N government was committed to the

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Lockheed CEO warns of potential order hit if US ‘budget constraints’ are not fixed


CNBC (October 24, 2017)

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson warned Tuesday of potential order impacts if there are federal budget constraints beyond Dec. 8. A measure passed last month keeps the government operating through early December but also impacts the Pentagon’s spending. The defense giant’s CEO also urged Congress to address the budget caps to allow for more defenses spending that she sees as “vital to

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