Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, will present Budget 2014 in the National Assembly today Monday, March 24, but the joint opposition has once again signalled its intention to cut the national estimates, ably crafted after stakeholder input by the Finance Minister and his capable team, some of whom are opposition supporters, despite a court ruling that such an action by the opposition is unconstitutional and falls out of their mandate.

Budget 2014 will be the eighth presented by Minister Singh, with his first presentation made in 2007 following his appointment as Minister of Finance in September of 2006.
A GINA feature defines a National Budget as ‘…the annual financial statement of the country, which sets out in very detailed terms the Government’s financial plans for the period prior to the next budget;’ and clarifies ‘Since it is imperative for the Government to have planned the implementation of several policies in the overall task of performing its functions to meet the objectives of socio-economic growth, it therefore means that careful planning and execution of development plans and projects have to be precise, given that very huge amounts of money would have been budgeted.’
Consultations with stakeholders from the private sector, labour unions and other groupings informed the compilation of the 2014 budget, which began in June 2013. However, despite repeated invitations to the APNU and the AFC, they opted to boycott the consultations, instead reverting to threats and intimidatory language, forewarning the lawless strangulation of funding for major developmental projects as occurred in 2012 and 2013.
Although, true to its Manifesto promises, this year’s budget by the PPP/C administration projects to continue to promote the PPP/C’s commitment to accelerate economic growth and social development; emphasize macroeconomic stability through the continued creation of investment opportunities; expand and upgrade physical infrastructure; improve the quality of social services and strengthen institutional and regulatory environments, among other life-enhancement initiatives, the joint opposition seems bent on a path to derail this nation’s progress that has been a sustained force from the inception of PPP/C accession to Government.

Guyana’s strong economic performance of recent years has been the direct result of the responsible policy stance adopted, and the prudent and responsible choices exercised and decisions made over the years by the PPP/C Government. Over the past eight years, Guyana has experienced an unprecedented period of uninterrupted growth, standing out in its economic performance despite the crises that have enveloped economies in the Caribbean, and even developed countries internationally, during those years.

Despite the stalemate that has largely consumed the National Assembly within the last three years, Budget 2014 presents another opportunity for all parties to work together in the interest of the people of Guyana, an eventuality which has been ardently pursued by the Government, but which has been consistently rejected by the joint opposition.

A Partnership for National Unity’s Shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge, in a statement published by the Kaieteur News on March 17, 2014, under the headline “Despite distractions, Opposition remains focus(ed) on 2014 National Budget”, threatened “nasty or bloody war.” This is the Finance Minister of the PNC administration who ran this country’s economy underground and under whose watch no audits were done for the entire duration of his stint as Finance Minister; the Finance Minister who had no shame in announcing Guyana’s economy being bankrupted in his last budget presentation in Parliament. Today he arrogates to himself the right to dictate on the formulation of budgets prepared by a PPP/C administration, which has brought the economy that he ran to subterranean levels to a level of sound macro-economic footing, with consistent growth patterns, even as first-world economies crumble.
Shedding of Guyana’s blood and waging war on the Guyanese people has historically been the PNC’s perception of leadership. Today they have been joined by other parties, including the WPA and AFC on this mission of taking Guyana backwards.

However, during an interview with GINA, Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill has condemned the statements attributed to Granger by Kaieteur News. He averred “It is regrettable that someone who has been elected to the National Assembly as a policy maker and as a legislator would even descend to such a level without even seeing or hearing the budget, to predict that it would be a nasty bloody war….It is clear that Mr. Greenidge’s politics is fuelled by bitterness. He is a man that is responding to grudges, and he is not objective in his participation in the whole process.”
Minister Edgehill continued “You (Greenidge) are already predicting a nasty or bloody war; it means that nothing that is said in the National Assembly in the debate, or nothing that is said during the time of response to questions in the Committee of Supply, will satisfy him, because his position is already prejudiced, it’s already determined even before having the necessary information.”

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had written to the opposition parties inviting them to budget talks, but they did not take up the invitation. In the latter part of 2013, the ministry initiated talks with the Opposition on the 2014 Budget. On January 13 last, the minister again invited the opposition parties to Budget talks. None of these invitations were responded to; and even attempts by President Donald Ramotar to engage the opposition on the formulation of national policies, including the National Estimates, were all met with negativity and/or outright rejection.
But Government intends to pursue an unerring path to development, according to Bishop Edgehill, who pledged “We (Government) are not dismayed or disillusioned or discouraged by the constant attacks that have been waging on the developmental agenda of the PPP/C. We are determined that we will continue to march forward resolutely, embracing the people, embracing the realities of Guyana, and ensuring that Guyana is that prosperous nation that we are all dreaming about.”

Is Greenidge’s “nasty bloody war” a forewarning of mayhem again at Linden, or other PNC strongholds?