LESS than 30 per cent of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) has been expended as of June 2017, Finance Minister Winston Jordan disclosed on Monday.

For 2017, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government had set aside $58B for its Public Sector Investment Programme.

Like budget agencies, the government, at the macro level,is reviewing its performance for the first half of the year, and according to the Finance Minister, the findings leave much to be desired.
“We still have budget agencies, in June, figuring out specifications of items to be purchased; we have awarded only 53 per cent of the PSIP, and expended a mere 28 per cent on maintenance of infrastructure within the recurrent budget,” Minister Jordan said as he expressed his dissatisfaction.

Questioning the reason for the continued sloth in the implementation of the PSIP, the minister said agencies can no longer give the excuse of having to work with a late budget.
“No late budget excuse is applicable any longer, because for Budget 2017, the presentation to Parliament was on November 28, 2016, a signal accomplishment of this administration,” he lamented.
The benefits of having an early budget are slowly being materialised. “While we happily and deservedly bask in the glow of improved Grade 4 examination results, we need to wake up to the reality that less than 50 per cent of our Grade 6 children passed mathematics this year,” Minister Jordan said, adding:“Drugs and medical supplies are still in short supply at GPHC and in all of our regions.”

Heads of Budget Agencies must do better, the Finance Minister urged, noting that effective systems must be implemented to prevent a reoccurrence. “We need to be in a BETTER position and in a BETTER place, for where we are currently can neither be countenanced nor endured,” he said.
“I trust, therefore, that as a collective, we will use the opportunity of reflection to renew our energies towards improved performance and better results across all sectors,” he added.

At the time, the Finance Minister was delivering the feature address during the opening ceremony of a “Budget 2018 Preparation and Sensitisation Session” at the Guyana Marriott on Monday.