WHAT MINISTER SINGH SAID

BY MICHAEL YOUNGE
This year’s National Budget is a whopping $383.1B dollars with “no” new taxes and is being hailed as a “people’s budget with a difference” since it marks only six-months the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic is in the Executive Branch of Government.

The budget, which boasted several hallmark and stellar developmental plans that will benefit the country as a whole, was presented by the Senior Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, in the National Assembly on Friday during what appears to be a marathon as he gave his groundbreaking speech.
The budget was also presented to the house under the theme “A Path to Recovery, Economic Dynamism and Resilience”.

But it is Dr Singh’s ‘preamble’ (if you can call it that) to the actual presentation of the budget that gave any patriotic, right-thinking and impartial Guyanese the chills or made them feel a sense of joy and awakening as he delivered one of the real visionary speeches of the moment.

In a synopsis, Dr Singh chronicled our past economic history which could be correlated with the political developments that led to a bankrupt Independent Guyana during the phase 1966 to 1992. He then mentioned 1992 to 2015 which he deemed the period of economic reconstruction and expansionism that marked the reality of ‘the Guyana Dream’ being attainable.

Sadly, according to the Minister, the period right up until his government took office in 2020, Guyana was marked by regressive socioeconomic ideologies and policies that had it on the brink of social and economic rein given the challenges that confronted it in the form of global changes, COVID-19 pandemic , and the political environment.

To drive home the point, Dr Singh said Guyana was “isolated from the rest of the world, condemned as a pariah, and consigned to the dustpile of tinpot dictatorships”. It is widely believed he was talking about the period when the opposition A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change were trying to steal the democratic nature of governance from the people.

He then said, “…let us be clear, 2021 will not be an easy year. COVID-19 is still with us, and the need to keep our People safe and to keep the economy alive is still very present. While we have already started administering vaccines, the speed of uptake and the time until herd immunity is achieved are still huge unknowns. Exactly when we will be returning to any semblance of normalcy is therefore far from certain”.
The Minister even suggested that, “…The matter is made worse by the fact that we are confronting these unknowns with limited fiscal resources, given the depletion and plunder of the public treasury over the past five years. But, recover we must, and recover we will”.

Dr Singh did not need to continue, at that point, because he hit the hammer on the nail. How we move forward from this point is very important now more than ever before.

This is why the budget is so futuristic in scope and outlook to begin with. A careful analysis of this speech makes one cringe when it comes to the depth and width of tackling the challenges that are before us.
The budget is, therefore, a step in the right direction away from the brink of socioeconomic mismanagement and lack of transparency to a more formidable approach of nation-building through private/public partnerships, private sector innovation, good governance and inclusivity.

By its remarkable and visionary projects under the housing development, infrastructure, bridges and roads, climate change and the environment, governance and constitutional management, Budget 2021 is just what Guyana [need] to arm itself for a resurgence of the socioeconomic happiness of the people under an Irfaan Ali-Government.

And it takes into consideration the immediate needs of our human resources. Also, from the budget, folks can expect the zero-rating of VAT on basic food items and household necessities, reduced cost of home ownership, reduced cost of connectivity, reduced cost on hinterland transportation, reduced water tariffs, $2B for capital at GuySuCo, $823M for agro-processing, and $12B in drainage and irrigation works, among others.

Regardless of where you are sitting on the political divide, you would have to agree that Minister Singh and team have done an excellent job with this year’s budget. Now, I look to the opposition to hear their criticisms of just how it could be made better.

After all is said and done, in the words of Minister Singh, “…recover we must, and recover we will”.

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