MINISTER of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, will today be presenting Guyana’s National Budget for 2010.
In his presentation, the minister is expected to report on the performance of the country’s economy over the last year, and to present his projections for 2010. This would be his latest presentation before the National Assembly since the commencement of the fourth term in office of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Administration.
The minister had indicated to the Guyana Chronicle that the 2010 National Budget, which will be presented under the theme: ‘Consolidate, Transform, Sustain’, is being framed in a manner that is reflective of the Government’s consistent emphasis on particular developmental themes such as the preservation of macro-economic stability, and investing in the expansion of the country’s physical infrastructure.
Dr Singh said the reason a deliberate emphasis is being placed on expansion of the physical infrastructure is because of the important role it plays in not just enabling economic growth, but in improving the quality of life as well.
“This is one of the themes that have been a consistent feature of our Administration’s priorities,” he stressed.
Noting that the Administration has also consistently emphasised social programmes, he said that the 2010 Budget, being reflective of this, caters for the implementation of social programmes that are specifically aimed at benefitting, in a direct way, the people of Guyana.
Some of those programmes, he outlined, are in the areas of education, health, housing and water, and the Budget will, among other things, discuss at some length policy priorities such as the institutional environment.
On the subject of the Budget being prepared in a global-regional context that is still reflective of considerable uncertainty, Dr Singh said, “Even if we might be past the global economic crisis – we’re certainly not out of the crisis completely, and the whole economic environment is still fraught with uncertainty, risk, and, at the very best, slow growth in some of the major economic capitals in the world.”
In addition to the budget being cast within this external context, Dr Singh said it will also be done in a domestic context, in the sense that it is essentially reflective of the country’s economic performance over the past year.
“That is a performance that indicates relative resilience. This means that even if global effects have been transmitted into the domestic economy, they have done so in a manner that has not threatened macro-economic stability. In fact, we have been able to preserve such stability and continue to grow,” the Minister explained.
Guyana’s economy, despite the many challenges posed by the global financial and economic crisis during last year, has demonstrated resilience, and its economy was able to weather the storm and record significant growth in several areas.
Government spending in the sectors has increased by leaps and bounds, resulting in continued development across the country’s ten Administrative Regions.
Minister Singh said in a statement recently that the Guyanese economy displayed a striking resilience last year despite depressed external demands and lower prices for certain key exports.
Last year, the largest budget of 128.9B was presented to the National Assembly on February 9, under the theme ‘Working Together – Reinforcing Resilience’. It 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 per cent, while overall growth was projected at 4.7 per cent, influenced strongly by the expected recovery of sugar.
A $128.9 billion National Budget, the largest ever presented in the history of this country, was presented last year, representing an 8.1 per cent 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.
That Guyana has continuously recorded positive growth over the past few years is attributed to increased spending in all sectors. In 2005, the Government allocated $86.4B, 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.