–to save the Treasury and industry, says Sharma

MORE than $45,000 is the sum every citizen in Guyana would have had to pay were they to personally contribute to the $32B subsidy pumped into the ailing Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) by the coalition government.

Another $6,500 would have been the sum taxpayers would have had to hand over, if they were to personally contribute to the additional $5B that has been slated for the payment of severance to retrenched sugar workers.

Junior Finance Minister Jaipaul Sharma told the Guyana Chronicle on Friday that while the sums of money being pumped into the sugar industry are not from the immediate accounts of citizens, it is still taxpayers’ money being used to save the industry.
He said given the fact that not all citizens in the country are employed and pay taxes, the individual sum of money contributed by citizens to the sugar industry would surpass the mentioned amounts.

“We can average that about 748,000 citizens live in Guyana, but not all are employed. We have children in there, and where you have persons 18 and above that you expect to be working, they are not.”
To paint a truer picture of what the cash-strapped GuySuCo is costing the nation, Sharma said it would depend on the number of persons who are actually paying taxes. Those are the persons whose money is going into GuySuCo, since they are the ones honouring their civic obligations.

Sharma continued that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) would be able to say the number of persons paying taxes. Based on those figures, a more accurate sum could be arrived at in terms of what the individual cost of subsidising the industry would mean to each citizen paying tax.

“That is why the GRA is encouraging the payment of outstanding amounts, and is looking at charging no interest,” Sharma related.
He said the country needs all the money it can get and GRA is seeking to increase its revenue and strengthen its collecting capability.
The junior finance minister mentioned deficits in relation to the 2018 budget and the Consolidated Fund, before noting that government must be prudent in balancing its expenditure and revenue.

It was reported however that during the last seven years of the previous government, some $48B was used to financially aid GuySuCo, while in 30 months the current government spent $32B to keep the corporation going.

This would mean that just over $1B was given to GuySuCo every month and about $2000 monthly from the salaries of taxpayers.
To cover severance payments, the government recently announced that it would be cutting back from some sectors to accommodate this abrupt expenditure.
The news of the cuts had forced some sector heads and ministers to warn their agencies that they will have to use the money allocated from the budget or risk losing it to GuySuCo.

The APNU+AFC coalition has determined that the loss-making sugar industry cannot continue to be a burden to citizens.
The government has thus commenced a transitioning plan, whereby some three poorly functioning sugar estates have been closed.

Apart from the industry being groomed to financially resuscitate itself, hundreds of sugar workers will receive their severance payments. GuySuCo also has planned training in various trades, business and other areas for retrenched workers.
An offer of additional lands is also on the table.