The same article states that, in an unusual move, the Minister called in the Secretary General of each Department to tell them the situation and impress on them the importance of holding the line. In the same article, he is quoted as having said to the Secretaries General that the fact that there was an election in the offing did not mean that there would be extra money available to spend. These are hardly the sentiments of a spendthrift Minister for Finance who did not seem to care about the direction the economy was taking.