The Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Benigno Fitial has signed the government's first budget since 2003.
The Appropriations and Budget Authority Act for 2007, sets a spending limit of 193.5 million US dollars for the entire government for the period between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2007.
This represents a 20-million US dollar reduction from the government's last budget, which was enacted for 2003.
The 2003 budget level had carried on until early January this year when the Fitial administration took office and reduced it to 198.5 million US dollars for the remaining months of fiscal year 2006 or up to the end of this month.
The administration then submitted a further reduced budget of $193.5 million for fiscal year 2007.
