According to the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation, the co-ordinating body of ports and merchant marine has been allocated $1.57m in this year’s national budget, compared with $1.7m last year, which is an effective reduction of 7.4%.
There has also been a reduction of 7.1% in finance allocated to the general ports directorate, whose budget has fallen from $3.04m to $2.82m.
Similarly, the port development and administration general directorate has seen its allocation reduced by 7%, from $1.45m to $1.35m.
The budget for the training and training trust for national merchant marine personnel has been downsized by 6.1%.