PREPARATIONS for the 2015 National Budget, which will be tabled in the first quarter of the New Year, have started. This is according to Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill.

“The iterative process between the Ministry of Finance and Government agencies has started,” he said, in an invited comment.
According to him, a budget call circular was issued to various Government ministries and agencies requesting the commencement of compilation of their budget submissions.
The minister explained that when submissions are received they will be reviewed through several rounds of meetings, after which analyses will be done and then they will be consolidated into the national budget.
Submissions from ministries and agencies routinely include information on policy recommendations, detailed articulations of various programmes and projects the ministries would like to implement in 2015, and some articulation of the expected impacts and outcomes that would arise from the implementation of these programmes and projects.
Additionally, there was a meeting between the Director of Budget and all Permanent Secretaries to facilitate discussion of requirements articulated in the budget circular.
“There was a meeting where PSs (Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries) and regional officers were given guidance,” Edghill said.
The Ministry’s Budget Office facilitates the preparation of the country’s annual revenues and expenditure estimates, effective and efficient management and monitoring of resource allocation and utilisation combined with the formulation of constructive and effective economic policy.
This year the cuts totalled a whopping $37.4B, reducing the $220B National Budget to $182.6B. Last year, the combined Opposition cut the Budget by $31B; and in 2012 by $21B.
The implementation of many programmes and functioning of many entities, including the Office of the President, has been affected by the budget cuts as evidenced where allocations in some areas have been reduced to zero.
Under the allocation for the Office of the President, the cuts include: $245M for the Presidential Guard services; $95M for the provision of developmental and humanitarian aid, among other initiatives; $10M for the Office of the First Lady; $73.5M for the Guyana Energy Agency; $119M for the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest); $122M for the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST); $17M for the Integrity Commission; and $28.5M for the Office of the Commissioner of Information.
The other cuts include $18.5B for the LCDS initiatives; $450M for loans for University of Guyana students; $725M for the poverty alleviation programme; $7M for the different rights commissions; $795M for the Basic Needs Trust Fund; and $4M for support to non-governmental organisations and the private sector.
Also on the chopping block were: the Specialty Hospital – $910M; upgrading of Regional and District Hospitals, including Port Kaituma, Kwakwani, Linden, Bartica, Eye Surgery Operating Room at Linden etc. – $360M; ambulances, ATVs and Boats – $42M; surgical equipment and instruments – $32M; the Amerindian Development Fund – $1.1B; other Amerindian programmes, such as ATVs, tractors etc. – $40M; the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) modernisation project – $6.6B; Civil Aviation – $50M; and hinterland airstrips – $185M.
In total the allocations’ cuts from the 2014 budget represented nine capital programme budgets and one current programme budget.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, has since, tabled a financial paper, a Statement of Excess, which include $4.6B of some of the allocations cut this year. For this, he has been referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee, following a motion by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Shadow Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge, calling for Dr. Singh to be sanctioned.