MINISTER of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday assured that his Ministry will be ready to present the National Budget for 2015 before the required deadline. The question on Government’s preparedness to present the Budget was posed to the Minister during a press conference called to announce the reduction in the price of fuel at the pumps. 

The Minister said that, “work continues to honour that constitutional obligation,” and he further stated that the Ministry is guided by the Constitutional deadline which gives him 90 days after the commencement of the fiscal year to propose a Budget to the National Assembly. “We will be ready within the deadline when called,” he stated.

BUDGETARY SUPPORT GRANT
With regards to the European Union €25M in budgetary support grant, the Minister assured that Guyana has met its obligation and had received written confirmation from the body assuring that the obligations and benchmarks were achieved and as a result Guyana has qualified for the disbursement.
He acknowledged that no funds were disbursed to Guyana as yet but no credible reason has been forwarded as to why this was so.
“We implemented the agreement, we achieved the indicators … they wrote us and wrote to say we had qualified for €25M. The payment is dictated by the agreement and they have not offered any reason in the agreement,” the Minister said.
Questioned further on the status of Guyana’s external reserves, the Minister explained that despite the challenges facing the economy as a result of the reduction in the price of gold, rice and sugar, the “external reserves remain strong beyond any doubt.” He reminded that the external reserves are affected by many factors including trade; production and export; commodity prices, loan disbursement and the movement of world market prices, among others.

SUGAR INDUSTRY
Further questioned on the possibility of Guyana diversifying from sugar, given the inefficiencies in the industry, the Finance Minister cautioned against taking a simplistic look at the challenges facing that sector. He reminded that in as much as there are challenges with regards to the cost of production, the economy of entire communities depend on the sugar industry.
The Government will continue to work with the industry to address the challenges and reduce the cost of production to ensure that the viability and productivity of the industry is achieved, he assured.

(By Raymon Cummings)