My statement was in accord with the assessment of Ministers of the British Guiana Government who informed the Colonial Office in October that they expected there would be a deficit on their recurrent budget for both the calendar years 1963 and 1964, and that they would probably need to ask the British Government for assistance in bridging the gap.

This information confirmed a separate assessment by an independent expert who was asked to report upon the financial situation in British Guiana.

However, in December the British Guiana Government found that owing to a shortfall in planned expenditure the expected deficit had not materialised. At the same time, the British Guiana Government have revised, in an upward direction, their previous estimate of revenue receipts for 1964. This has enabled them to present a balanced budget. It now also seems likely that the strain on British Guiana's resources in 1964 will be somewhat eased by the fact that their development programme has also fallen behind schedule.

This slight improvement in the Budgetary position does not of course affect our general plans for British Guiana.