The National Budget is an extremely important tool that affects the life of every citizen, and its presentation is looked forward to, because of the relevance it has to everday life.

This was posited by Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh in his opening remarks at a community meeting in Rose Hall, Region 6 where discussions were centered on the developmental projects included in the budget.
“It is important that the citizens of our country understand what the National Budget contains, and how it is of relevance to them under any circumstance…but under circumstances where you have an Opposition, as we have in Guyana, with a tiny majority that has shown its willingness to use the majority to oppose even that which is good and to force through Parliament even that which collides with the constitution. We run the risk of an Opposition that could potentially frustrate the passage of the budget, notwithstanding that the budget is good for Guyana,” Dr. Singh said.
Similar meetings were held with residents in Regions 2, 3, 4 and 5 at which  other Ministers of Government made presentations.
Minister Singh indicated that the intention is to have community leaders speak to their villagers about the budget so that they can understand why the budget is good for them,  why they must speak out for the passage of the budget, and condemn efforts to frustrate its passage, he said.
The meetings follow similar ones held with stakeholders from the religious community, unions, NGOs and even the private sector.
“I am convinced that  from every stakeholder group, and pockets of citizens, the resounding unanimous view is that budget 2013 is good for Guyana,” he noted.
Minister Singh indicated that the situation now is that the only people who do not believe the budget is good for Guyana are the Members of Parliament of the combined Opposition.
“Many of them are struggling in the debate because there is so little they can find to criticise,” he added. This includes the Opposition’s lead speaker Carl Greenidge whose only criticism of the 2013 budget was a legal technicality.
“For you to say that you will support or not support a budget because you have a political campaign against a distinguished Minister like Clement Rohee means that you are not a nationalist…the test to determine whether you would support something in the parliament must always be the answer to the question – is it good for Guyana?”
In explaining the relevance of the recorded seven years of consecutive growth, and the reduction of debt payments, the Minister stated that an economy that has not grown is a contracted one, where it  produces less goods and services, attracts few investments and generates low levels of savings. If Guyana’s economy was contracted, government would not have been in a position  to fund the many projects it already has, many of which are beneficial to Guyanese.
Minister Singh explained that  a growing economy touches everyone in many ways, and  this is evident in the production of more goods that are exported that would generate greater export receipts, that will contribute to stronger balance of payments, and  that will result in the accumulation of external reserves.
“An economy that does not have adequate external reserves is an economy that will,  some point in time, be unable to fund the imports that are required to maintain our economic operations…it is only a question of time before that economy will no longer be able to finance  its exernal trade transactions; the inevitable consequence is that there will be exchange rate depreciation,” Minister Singh emphasised.
The budget debate continues today in the National Assembly.