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HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon yesterday noted the commencement of consultations with stakeholders on the 2013 National Budget, the first of which was chaired by Minister of Housing and Water and acting Minister of Tourism, Irfaan Ali. During his weekly post-cabinet media briefing at the Office of the President on Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, he advised that the first set of consultations involved the private sector.
He pointed out that the engagement with the private sector that Ali reported on was wide ranging and extended from specific sectors within the private sector including such sectors like mining and production.
“There are particular areas where private sector members or the special arms of the private sector impressed upon the administration the need to adopt specific measures and to go in specific directions to continue transforming and expanding the economy in Guyana,” he stated.
Luncheon further explained that the consultations with stakeholders on the 2013 budget are an outcome of routine to the extent that it has a long history.
He added that in 2013, a preparation for the budget now includes, in a very principle way, consultations with the parliamentary opposition.
“A more conventional posture as you can see is being dealt with in that the private sector, habitually among the first to be consulted, in this instance was the first,” he highlighted.
The Cabinet Secretary also stated that he is almost certain that consultations with other stakeholders such as organised labour, consumers and pensioners are expected to soon follow.
He emphasised that government’s expectations are that these consultations would set much broader understandings on both sides that is for both government and stakeholders, on what strategies in 2013 could the government implement and how it would be supported in terms of budgetary measures.
In addition, he revealed that he is also required to provide the government with feedback from stakeholders on possible inclusions that go beyond that which the government would have declared to the stakeholders as it intends to implement in 2013.
Dr Luncheon noted that stakeholders from a particular sector could draw other matters of concern to the administration’s attention and perhaps even proffer some rationale or explanation why attention on that particular matter should be included in the government’s overall strategy for the 2013 budget.
He pointed out that the engagement with the private sector that Ali reported on was wide ranging and extended from specific sectors within the private sector including such sectors like mining and production.
“There are particular areas where private sector members or the special arms of the private sector impressed upon the administration the need to adopt specific measures and to go in specific directions to continue transforming and expanding the economy in Guyana,” he stated.
Luncheon further explained that the consultations with stakeholders on the 2013 budget are an outcome of routine to the extent that it has a long history.
He added that in 2013, a preparation for the budget now includes, in a very principle way, consultations with the parliamentary opposition.
“A more conventional posture as you can see is being dealt with in that the private sector, habitually among the first to be consulted, in this instance was the first,” he highlighted.
The Cabinet Secretary also stated that he is almost certain that consultations with other stakeholders such as organised labour, consumers and pensioners are expected to soon follow.
He emphasised that government’s expectations are that these consultations would set much broader understandings on both sides that is for both government and stakeholders, on what strategies in 2013 could the government implement and how it would be supported in terms of budgetary measures.
In addition, he revealed that he is also required to provide the government with feedback from stakeholders on possible inclusions that go beyond that which the government would have declared to the stakeholders as it intends to implement in 2013.
Dr Luncheon noted that stakeholders from a particular sector could draw other matters of concern to the administration’s attention and perhaps even proffer some rationale or explanation why attention on that particular matter should be included in the government’s overall strategy for the 2013 budget.
