LEADER of the Opposition, David Granger, maintains that the invitation for consultations on the 2014 Budget is too late.

However, President Donald Ramotar made it clear yesterday that there is still time for the combined Opposition – not only A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – to make a contribution.
At a press conference yesterday at Office of the President, he stated that the budget is still a work in progress.
He said, “We are still working on the budget…we are still open…the invitation we said to them said that we are open.
“We still have a lot of time for consultations and I regret the position that they have taken, when we have an open door for them to make suggestions.”
Ramotar stressed that all requested documentation has been provided.

He said, “The documents were sent; and not only were they sent to Mr. Greenidge, but to other members in the Opposition, both parties in the Opposition.
After taking office, the Head of State committed to tripartite talks on the national budget and efforts to realise the same have been made since then.
However, these were challenged by the inability of parties to reach a consensus.
The last meeting, the 2013 budget consultations, between the three parties ended on a bad note and as a result, the Opposition parties gutted the budget by $31.4 billion, from $208.8 billion to $177.4B.
“We are still ready to have consultations with them,” the president reiterated.

NOT THE FIRST
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ashni Singh this week wrote the Shadow Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge, reiterating government’s invitation to meet on budget 2014.
According to his most recent e-mail, Singh said the government team is willing to meet with either parliamentary party, in the event that one is disinclined to meet.
Government said, alternatively, that their team is willing to have the Opposition share in writing any specific suggestions the parties may wish to make in relation to Budget 2014.
The Finance Minister maintains that the e-mail, dated January 13, inviting the Opposition for talks, was not the first of its kind issued to the Opposition to discuss the 2014 Budget.
Singh, in a prior statement, said a government team had already initiated discussions with the Opposition in the latter part of 2013, and is looking forward to continued cooperation on the issue as preparations wind up for the March 2014 budget deadline.
“Mr. Granger is claiming that government has not consulted with the Opposition with regard to Budget 2014, two months before it is expected to be presented to Parliament,” he said, stressing that this was false.
He noted that the January 13 e-mail was sent, addressed to Mr. Greenidge, asking for him to suggest a date and time for the government and Opposition teams to meet.
The e-mail was also copied to Messrs. David Granger, Lance Carberry, Khemraj Ramjattan, Dr. Roger Luncheon, and Ms. Gail Teixeira.
According to the Finance Minister, during budget preparations for 2013, Mr. Greenidge was invited to attend the meetings in the capacity of Shadow Finance Minister.
However, instead of attending the meetings, he disappeared overseas for an extended period and made himself unavailable for consultations.
Singh said, “What was worse last year is that no one in the Opposition appeared able to shed light on Mr. Greenidge’s whereabouts.
“…if Mr. Greenidge is unavailable to participate in budget talks this year, as he was last year, he should do the decent thing and let the Leader of the Opposition appoint someone else to lead the Opposition team to the Budget 2014 talks.”
The need for tripartite talks has been a point of much debate by the combined Opposition, with Leader of the APNU, David Granger, being the most recent to flay the government for not involving political stakeholders in the process.
The national budget is to be presented in March to the National Assembly.