BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Guardian - Eighteen government entities are in line for a merger or elimination was the implication made by the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Christopher Sinckler as he outlined the 2013 budgetary proposals. The Minister of Finance pulled together a team of senior officials in the ministry to conduct a preliminary assessment of a list of statutory entities currently funded by government and to make recommendations for their reorganisation. He explained, “The entities were grouped according to similarity of mandate, overlapping functions and sameness of services provided.”