Gov’t ministers praise budget

…but Toshao, UG lecturer say key ingredients lacking

THE coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) government presented its fourth budget to the National Assembly on Monday under the theme, “The journey to the good life continues.”

Head of the Department of Economics, University of Guyana, Sydney Armstrong

Although it was comprehensive, many stakeholders believe that the $267.1 billion was challenging and lacked some key features that would have benefited the average Guyanese.

Minister of Finance Winston Jordan after presenting the budget to the National Assembly told members of the media that it was a challenging budget but it was the best under the current economic circumstances. He explained that a major industry, sugar, is no longer contributing in a meaningful way to the economy, so they had to find the “second best” solution to get the industry back on its feet.

“The industry is too big to fail but it will take years to turn around and can only happen if you support the industry,” the minister said, pointing out that they however tried to ensure that everyone benefited from the budget.

Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Guyana, Sydney Armstrong

Toshao of Santa Mission, Lennox Shuman

however shared a different view. He told the Guyana Chronicle that the budget will receive mixed reactions because there was mixed spending in sectors such as infrastructure, agriculture and security. “There was big spending which is good but they need to look at how the average man in the street is affected…I believe there was nothing significant in the budget that would improve the lives of the most vulnerable people,” said Armstrong.

Armstrong explained that there was no additional income; no reduction in income tax and pointed out that the increase of Old Age Pension from 19,000 to 19,500 cannot suffice. In addition, he described the 2.4 per cent growth of the economy as sluggish, because he believes Guyana has the potential to do better.

Every group receiving
Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, admitted that they could not have included everything that was requested by stakeholders during preparation of the budget, but the government tried to give every group something. Sharma even believed that the parliamentary opposition was caught off-guard since some of the things they had lobbied for, such as the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on private education, was in the budget.

Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, agreed that the budget was neither lacklustre nor overly exciting but it was the kind of budget they expected at this time. “I am very happy with it… putting aside the emotionalism, I believe it is a mid-term budget that indicates that a government is in its half-way point,” said the minister, adding that he is however excited about his sector because there were incentives and reversal of some measures which were unpopular.

Other ministers shared similar views, but Minister of State Joseph Harmon said they (the government) put together packaged measures that will increase the public good. He believes that the budget will benefit all categories of people since the Minister of Finance did an excellent job of reviewing the global economy in order to position the country to project from here. “There are better working conditions, better conditions for business, entrepreneurs and young people outlined in the budget,” said the State Minister.

In addition to having no new taxes, Harmon said there are benefits for many people from young to old. “This budget represents an important step in the development of the country…we pledged a good life for all Guyanese and we are taking important steps on the road to a good life,” said the Minister of State.

More robust
Toshao of Santa Mission, Lennox Shuman, also believes that the budget should have been more robust, especially for the hinterland communities. “I think a lot more could have been done and said to look at the hinterland…for instance, how do we continue to fund the Amerindian land-titling programme,” the Toshao lamented.

Although some of their recommendations from this year’s National Toshaos’ Council were reflected in the 2018 budget, he thinks that more things should have been included for the development of hinterland education

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.