– announces Minister of Finance
The 2010 National Budget will be presented to the National Assembly on Monday, February 8, under the theme: “Consolidate, transform, sustain”. This announcement was made yesterday by Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh. Despite challenges posed by the global financial and economic crisis during last year, Guyana’s economy weathered the storm and recorded growth in several areas. Government spending in the sectors increased by leaps and bounds resulting in continued development across the 10 Administrative Regions.

Minister Singh noted that the Guyanese economy displayed striking resilience last year, despite depressed external demand and lower prices for certain key exports. Last year’s record $128.9B National Budget presented to the National Assembly on February 9, under the theme Working Together – Reinforcing Resilience was reflective of Government’s awareness of the threats posed by the existing global environment and the need for strong and collective efforts at the national and individual levels.

Budget 2009 projected real growth of the non-sugar gross domestic product at 1.8 percent, while overall growth was projected at 4.7 percent, influenced strongly by the expected recovery of sugar.

The 2009 National Budget represented an 8.1 percent increase over the previous year’s $119.3B budget and provided for the well-being of children and vulnerable groups with specific focus on continued efforts to safeguard Guyana’s children and vulnerable groups.

Guyana has continuously recorded positive growth over the past few years attributed to increased spending in all sectors. In 2005, Government allocated $86.4 B, while the national budget of 2006 was $102.9B. The 2007 budget was $100B while the allocation for 2008 was $119.3B.

Guyana’s economy continues to withstand exogenous shocks recording positive growth due to the unstinting efforts of Government to create and maintain a stable macro economic environment to foster development of all sectors and facilitate a wider spread of projects across the country.

Despite the external conditions and local challenges such as those known to be confronting the sugar industry, the domestic economy is projected to continue to grow. The non-sugar economy recorded positive growth, with expansion in output reflected across a broad base of sectors. This result undoubtedly demonstrated early returns to Government’s efforts at diversification, with the strongest rates of growth achieved in non-traditional agriculture sub-sectors.