The Executive's 10 Departments have already requested 20 times next year's available budget, the North's Finance Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, said yesterday.
Mr Durkan said he did not anticipate cutbacks in spending next year but warned there would be little capacity for any increases. He said the departmental bids for budgets were "vastly in excess of the available resources", adding that hard choices lay ahead for those deciding government spending.
Speaking following an announcement that the Executive had £104 million available for reallocation to the Departments, money which was found from savings and budget monitoring, Mr Durkan said that £40 million might have to be held over until next year.
"Such is the pressure on our spending next year that the Executive has decided not to reallocate all the money in order to keep some additional uncommitted spending power for next year," he said. Of the £63 million being redistributed this year, Mr Durkan said £6.8 million was going towards meeting the costs of the foot-and-mouth crisis in the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Departments of Education and Health were receiving £14 million and £18 million respectively, while Regional Development was to receive £4.2 million for essential services, including monitoring the water supply.