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WHILE he would not be drawn on the details, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh says this year’s Budget will be no different from those of previous years, in that it will continue to embrace the objectives necessary to improve the lives of the Guyanese people. In an exclusive with the Guyana Chronicle at his Main Street office yesterday, Dr Singh stressed that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has over the years demonstrated its commitment to development in Guyana, and its conviction is that all of its policies must have at their centre a constant objective of improving the wellbeing of all the people of Guyana.
“That has been reflected over the years in a very consistent policy position: Investing in social services, improving quality of life, and most importantly, preserving and strengthening the overall macroeconomic environment,” he said.
Noting that Budget 2013, which will be presented in the National Assembly tomorrow, will be no exception, Dr Singh said it will continue to embrace those objectives, which are ensuring macro-economic stability and strength, the modernization and transformation of the country, the further improvement of the quality of life enjoyed by Guyanese people throughout the country, the strengthening of the environment for promoting innovation and creativity enterprise and generally, the environment that is necessary for people to realise opportunities for personal uplifting.
Within that, he explained, is the implementation of various programmes and policies across the sectors.
“You will see all of this in Budget 2013: Continued emphasis on the people of Guyana, and ensuring that we make steady advances in the wellbeing of the people of Guyana, and creating opportunities for the people of Guyana,” he reiterated.
Meanwhile, the minister stressed that he hopes the opposition will see the merits of not cutting any aspect of the budget, and noted that if it is really examined on its merits, it will be seen that every programme that is being implemented targets improvement of the lives of people in Guyana. This, he said, can easily be elaborated and justified.
In addition, the minister related that the Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) is no exception in this regard.
He noted that projects funded by the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) all go through a consolidative process.
“No project is funded out of the GRIF without having gone through the process of inclusion in the actual strategy document, consideration by the multi stakeholder steering committee, consideration by the GRIF steering committee,” he explained.
He added that the entire LCDS has benefitted from an unprecedented nationwide consultation. Questioned the rationale on which the opposition might wish to cut a GRIF supported project. According to him, this would make no sense.
Meanwhile, the minister stated that the government is being guided by the Chief Justice’s ruling on last year’s budget cuts, which stated that the National Assembly acted outside its constitutional mandate in imposing the cuts.
“I think there are some very clear and explicit conclusions that can be derived from what the Chief Justice said, and one of them was that the National Assembly acted outside of its constitutional mandate to impose the cuts that it did,” he stressed.
He further stated related that he hopes the parliamentary opposition parties will go to the National Assembly with “an open mind, willing to consider the budget on its merits”. According to him, once they are willing to do that, there will be a healthy debate and a positive outcome.
Dr. Singh noted that there were consultations with the opposition on the budget, but that they have been deliberately creating a negative perception of these consultations in the media.
He pointed out that since the very first meeting, the government had avoided public comment because they do not see it as an opportunity to get publicity but rather, one aimed at hearing the views of the opposition, with an endeavour to have the government and opposition understand each other better.
“We may not agree on everything but even if we simply accomplish better understanding of each other’s position, that would have been a valuable outcome from the consultation process,” he said.
However, he related that within days of the first meeting, the opposition was in the media casting negative shadows on the consultations in an attempt to score political points.
In addition, he mentioned that after the second meeting, there was a reoccurrence of the same type of behaviour from the opposition members.
“If you look at the forays in the media, the forays in the media were started by the opposition and they were all negative in their tone. It was at that point I spoke publicly, and I said I have concerns about the negative impression that is being created by the opposition about an engagement that the government is serious and is sincere about continuing,” he asserted.
He further stated that the opposition had asked for certain information which were provided and that he had invited them to a follow up meeting. However, they claimed to not be available at that time, and to date have not offered an alternative date.
Moreover, the minister stated that he is pleased by the tone of the engagements with other stakeholders on the budget.
“I wouldn’t be unrealistic and say that we can achieve universal agreement that we will have every stakeholder agreeing on every policy, I think that would be naïve and unrealistic. But if you’re able to agree on objectives and or at least broadly understand, then the engagement has value,” he said.
He explained that there is no “one off” engagement with any stakeholder, but rather there are various mechanisms through which stakeholders provide input into the policy making function.
For instance, he pointed out, there is representation from the Private Sector Commission, and other sectors such as labour, tourism and agriculture.
Meanwhile, President Donald Ramotar, during a media briefing Friday, said Guyana can expect a good budget which will lay a foundation for the further advancement of the country and lifting the quality of life for the people.
While stated that he had hoped that there would have been much more consultations and discussions on the matter, he said that he expects the full support of the opposition for the budget, noting that they would do so if they have the interest of the Guyanese people fully at heart.
He acknowledged that there will be areas where they might not have total agreement, but highlighted that he hopes the opposition will see that this budget is a very good one that can only benefit the people of Guyana.
Meantime, the president stressed that a sober atmosphere must in maintained in the National Assembly in the passing of the budget.
“That has been reflected over the years in a very consistent policy position: Investing in social services, improving quality of life, and most importantly, preserving and strengthening the overall macroeconomic environment,” he said.
Noting that Budget 2013, which will be presented in the National Assembly tomorrow, will be no exception, Dr Singh said it will continue to embrace those objectives, which are ensuring macro-economic stability and strength, the modernization and transformation of the country, the further improvement of the quality of life enjoyed by Guyanese people throughout the country, the strengthening of the environment for promoting innovation and creativity enterprise and generally, the environment that is necessary for people to realise opportunities for personal uplifting.
Within that, he explained, is the implementation of various programmes and policies across the sectors.
“You will see all of this in Budget 2013: Continued emphasis on the people of Guyana, and ensuring that we make steady advances in the wellbeing of the people of Guyana, and creating opportunities for the people of Guyana,” he reiterated.
Meanwhile, the minister stressed that he hopes the opposition will see the merits of not cutting any aspect of the budget, and noted that if it is really examined on its merits, it will be seen that every programme that is being implemented targets improvement of the lives of people in Guyana. This, he said, can easily be elaborated and justified.
In addition, the minister related that the Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) is no exception in this regard.
He noted that projects funded by the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) all go through a consolidative process.
“No project is funded out of the GRIF without having gone through the process of inclusion in the actual strategy document, consideration by the multi stakeholder steering committee, consideration by the GRIF steering committee,” he explained.
He added that the entire LCDS has benefitted from an unprecedented nationwide consultation. Questioned the rationale on which the opposition might wish to cut a GRIF supported project. According to him, this would make no sense.
Meanwhile, the minister stated that the government is being guided by the Chief Justice’s ruling on last year’s budget cuts, which stated that the National Assembly acted outside its constitutional mandate in imposing the cuts.
“I think there are some very clear and explicit conclusions that can be derived from what the Chief Justice said, and one of them was that the National Assembly acted outside of its constitutional mandate to impose the cuts that it did,” he stressed.
He further stated related that he hopes the parliamentary opposition parties will go to the National Assembly with “an open mind, willing to consider the budget on its merits”. According to him, once they are willing to do that, there will be a healthy debate and a positive outcome.
Dr. Singh noted that there were consultations with the opposition on the budget, but that they have been deliberately creating a negative perception of these consultations in the media.
He pointed out that since the very first meeting, the government had avoided public comment because they do not see it as an opportunity to get publicity but rather, one aimed at hearing the views of the opposition, with an endeavour to have the government and opposition understand each other better.
“We may not agree on everything but even if we simply accomplish better understanding of each other’s position, that would have been a valuable outcome from the consultation process,” he said.
However, he related that within days of the first meeting, the opposition was in the media casting negative shadows on the consultations in an attempt to score political points.
In addition, he mentioned that after the second meeting, there was a reoccurrence of the same type of behaviour from the opposition members.
“If you look at the forays in the media, the forays in the media were started by the opposition and they were all negative in their tone. It was at that point I spoke publicly, and I said I have concerns about the negative impression that is being created by the opposition about an engagement that the government is serious and is sincere about continuing,” he asserted.
He further stated that the opposition had asked for certain information which were provided and that he had invited them to a follow up meeting. However, they claimed to not be available at that time, and to date have not offered an alternative date.
Moreover, the minister stated that he is pleased by the tone of the engagements with other stakeholders on the budget.
“I wouldn’t be unrealistic and say that we can achieve universal agreement that we will have every stakeholder agreeing on every policy, I think that would be naïve and unrealistic. But if you’re able to agree on objectives and or at least broadly understand, then the engagement has value,” he said.
He explained that there is no “one off” engagement with any stakeholder, but rather there are various mechanisms through which stakeholders provide input into the policy making function.
For instance, he pointed out, there is representation from the Private Sector Commission, and other sectors such as labour, tourism and agriculture.
Meanwhile, President Donald Ramotar, during a media briefing Friday, said Guyana can expect a good budget which will lay a foundation for the further advancement of the country and lifting the quality of life for the people.
While stated that he had hoped that there would have been much more consultations and discussions on the matter, he said that he expects the full support of the opposition for the budget, noting that they would do so if they have the interest of the Guyanese people fully at heart.
He acknowledged that there will be areas where they might not have total agreement, but highlighted that he hopes the opposition will see that this budget is a very good one that can only benefit the people of Guyana.
Meantime, the president stressed that a sober atmosphere must in maintained in the National Assembly in the passing of the budget.
