— Vice President says new government will return money to the people

ANTI-growth policies were the order of the day under the former APNU+AFC administration, said Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, as he argued that the former administration had no welfare policy or agenda to drive economic growth.

Jagdeo’s contention was that the former administration had policies which were based on taxation and consumption.
“APNU had no economic policy and therefore they were always floundering in the wet… they had a disjointed approach to economic development,” said the Vice President during his presentation on the final day of the Budget 2020 debates.

The new government’s belief is that creating jobs and focusing on the welfare of the people is the right path to economic growth as opposed to the collection of taxes which was seen as progress under the past administration.

Jagdeo criticised the former administration for casting aside the welfare of workers and focusing on what he described as “anti-growth” policies.
“You could not have a welfare policy and send home 7,000 sugar workers or take away $1.6 billion from children through cash grants…take away $600 million from pensioners through the removal of the subsidy on water and electricity,” said the Vice President.

He also called out the past administration for taxing medicine and hinterland travel while also increasing fees by 500 per cent.
In giving an example, he said a vendor who plies their trade with a van or truck would have paid a fee of $12,500 in 2014, but this was raised to $65,000 under the APNU+AFC administration.

“That is how you help poor people?” he asked, adding: “the large sums of money collected from taxes and fees went to employment of cronies, families and friends.”
Jagdeo said the public service grew by more than 10,000 persons from 2015 to 2020, as institutions were created by the past administration to spend billions of dollars.

“They were looking after the welfare for themselves while the ordinary man had to contend with higher taxes and higher licensing fees,” the Vice President argued.
He, however, assured that the “gravy train” has come to end and the new government will ensure that money goes back to the people and stays with them.
Jagdeo promised that the new government will focus on the people through the creation of jobs and investments in the productive sectors, among other things.