RECLASSIFICATION ERROR 
The increase in this line item from $8.9 million in 2018/19 to $18.9 million in 2019/20 is due mostly to an error in reporting, in that the salaries for Urban Renewal which were actually supposed to be captured under Head 44, were mistakenly added to the Air Transport line item under Travel & Subsistence. This accounts for some $3.5 million of the $5.4 million increase in air transport for domestic travel. 

PROPER BUDGETING - ROYAL BAHAMAS POLICE FORCE
Apart from that, the overall increase in Travel & Subsistence is not due to an immense increase in any one item, but instead reflects incremental increases across all Ministries, and in some cases, right budgeting. For example, the Royal Bahamas Police Force had budgeted $350,000 for air transportation for domestic travel; but had spent $393,180 in the nine months to March.  This clearly shows that what they had budgeted was not sufficient to meet their needs, and as a result of employing right budgeting for 2019/20, their allocation for air transportation has increased to $509,200.  

PROPER BUDGETING - ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENSE FORCE
Similarly, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force budgeted $112,000 for domestic air transportation, and by end-March had spent a total of $170,000; again, representing a mismatch of provisions with real needs.  Thus, in this Budget, we have allocated $190,000 for this line item. 

REORGANISATION OF LINE ITEMS UNDER THE NEW COA
In addition, some Ministries may have reflected a large increase in travel allocations due to the fact that under the new Chart of Accounts, some line items would have been grouped together, that may have been recorded separately in previous Budgets. For example, in the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture, all of the travel for the National Arts Festival, National Youth Month, the National Cultural Festival, and a number of other cultural festivals were consolidated under air transportation for domestic travel under this Ministry. Thus, the increase in their travel and subsistence figures would look substantial, but in actuality does not reflect a real increase.  

In fact, this was the case for a number of line items in this Budget, apart from travel allocations.  So, when you see a huge increase from year to year, it may not necessarily indicate that more money is being spent on that line item, but simply that a number of initiatives, projects, programmes, and departments are now included under said line item.

Ministry line items have been cut across the board as a result of a preliminary line-item by line-item review that revealed a history of over budgeting. In the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture's Budget there had been an annual allocation for $1.9 million every year for the IAAF World Relays. However, that event is no longer being held in The Bahamas. The allocations for it have been substantially eliminated.

The same is true of the allocation that was previously provisioned for Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival. The Minnis Administration privatized this event; necessary adjustments were needed to reflect that Carnival is no longer a national priority for spending taxpayer money. These outcomes are what secured the reduction in the allocation, as opposed to the Government neglecting key youth and cultural programmes.  

SOCIAL ASSISTANCE BENEFITS INCREASED
The total budget for Social Assistance Benefits increased by $1.6 million in the Budget, although the Department of Social Services overall had a 1.7 percent decrease. In line with the general practice of more precise budgeting, the Government found ways to trim the operational and administrative aspects of the Ministry, while increasing the budget allocation significantly in the most important areas.

Specifically, the overall social assistance benefits allocation increased from $19.5 million to $21.2 million. This was deliberate to ensure that those Bahamians who need to rely on the Government for financial help, in the face of hard times, can find the support they need. The allocation for the Food Assistance Programme was also increased by $1.4 million to $14.2 million, and the Subsistence/Support of Persons contract by $0.3 million to $2.6 million this year.  

There are several line items in the Budget under the section for Social Assistance Benefits. One of the line items, 2721001, is also named "Social Assistance Benefits", which has caused some concern and confusion. The 2019/20 Budget allocates $488,951 for this line item, compared to $1 million allocated in last year's budget. Despite the name, this line item specifically relates to the Renewable, Inspiring, Sustaining, Empowering (or RISE) Social Safety Net Reform project, which was started under an IDB loan facility in 2012. 

Beginning in fiscal year 2014/15, the PLP spent approximately $4.0 million on the RISE Project. However, due to the fact that the former Government could not meet the deliverables of the facility, the programme was stopped in August of 2017. The Government saw the value in the programme—which was centered on alleviating poverty in The Bahamas by changing behavior to bring about improvements in education and health, of those in the lower income class. 

To this end, the Government took away some of the positive lessons from the RISE programme and integrated them into the core service offerings of the Minsitry, so that those who would have been assisted by the programme initially, would not lose their net benefit. To do this, the Government allocated $1.0 million in 2018/19 toward the services of the old programme. However, a careful examination determined that those services did not require that level of funding, as only $75,760 was spent as at March of 2019.  

Despite the allocation for 2019/20 being much lower than the $1.0 million that was budgeted in 2018/19, the $488,951 actually represents a huge increase compared to the projected expenditure.