THE 2019 National Budget will be presented to the National Assembly on Monday November 26, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has announced.

He made the announcement during the 99th Sitting of the National Assembly on Monday.
Hours before the official announcement, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, while noting that he is upbeat about Budget 2019, said the budget will respond to the needs of the Guyanese people. “I believe that this will be a budget with a social content,” the prime minister told reporters on the sidelines of a United Nations (UN) Human Rights forum with Small Island States at the Pegasus hotel.

On Sunday, the finance minister, in a letter to the editor, said salary increases for all public workers are in the pipeline as he hinted to the pending budget. It was also announced that old-age pension which now stands at $19,500 per month will be further increased.
The national budget will be presented to the House following extensive consultation with government and non-governmental entities including organisations such as the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and the Guyana Manufacturing Services Association (GMSA).

In the case of GMSA, it made a case for the government to impose measures that would result in tax relief in several sectors and the expansion of tax net in several others. There were also requests for revised legislation and the need for the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to monitor overseas companies for the possible dumping of cheaper products which would be detrimental to local manufacturers. The 2018 National Budget totaled $267.1B which represented a 7.1 per cent increase when compared to the 2017 National Budget which totaled $250B.