THE 2022 budget has been passed by the National Assembly after thorough scrutiny by the Committee of Supply. The parliamentary political opposition was given a fair chance to contribute to the budget deliberations following five days of discussions on the budget presentation and four days of interrogation at the Committee of Supply.

And despite some theatrics by the APNU+AFC parliamentarians, they had been provided with the opportunity to participate in the budget deliberations and therefore are fully aware of all elements of the budget, both from a financial and a programmatic perspective.

This is good from the standpoint of parliamentary democracy and the Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Mansoor Nadir must be commended for having managed the proceedings in a fair and balanced manner, even though it must have been quite a challenge to maintain his calm, especially at times when the temperature in the House was high, due to the unparliamentary conduct of some opposition members. In fact, one opposition member had to be suspended from future sessions after he bluntly refused to abide by the norms and protocols of parliamentary conduct.

Be that as it may, the good news is that the Budget 2022 has been passed which means that the business of government can now begin in earnest and within the financial parameters of the budget and the PPP/C’s work plan for the year. The budget in effect is an annual, except for the fact that there are financial figures which must be adhered to in the execution of that plan. This year’s budget also saw an amendment to the country’s tax laws allowing for many of the measures provided for in the Appropriation Bill (2022) to take effect.

This year’s budget is 44.3 per cent larger than that of the previous year and included for the first time withdrawals from the Natural Resources Fund (NRF). The money from the NRF will be transferred to the Consolidated Fund, which will then be used to finance the massive developmental projects and programmes identified in the 2022 budget.

What all of this means in effect is that the government now has more money to spend, not hitherto possible prior to income from the oil which, even though still in its early stages, still amounted to a substantial injection of new resources into the coffers of the government.

This will enable the government to advance its economic and social agenda without having to resort to borrowing to the extent it was forced to do in previous years. This development, apart from creating greater fiscal space, also means that the cost for borrowing will be significantly reduced and the country’s debt burden will not be as high. It is worth recalling that under the previous PNC regime, the debt burden was consuming over 90 per cent of government revenues, leaving very little to spend on the provision of social services and better wages and salaries for the nation’s public servants.

There are some opposition elements who argue against taking out money from the NRF to finance the developmental plans, but such arguments are at best short-sighted and fail to take into account the dire financing needs of the country at this critical conjuncture in its development and emergence as a petroleum state. Indeed, the magnitude of transformational projects currently underway to re-engineer the economy into a modern one with cutting-edge technologies and strategic networks in order to take advantage of a highly competitive global environment, will require much more resources than is available to the government in the current budget.

Guyana at this stage in its development cannot afford to wait until the ‘right’ time to modernise and transform its economy to international standards and best practices. That right time is now, and all available resources within the framework of the laws must be garnered to facilitate this transition process.

The fact is that even as this year’s budget is significantly bigger than previous years, it is still inadequate to meet the developmental needs of the country, given the state of the economy which, for decades under the PNC regime, had suffocated to a point where we were at one time ranked among the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. It was not until the coming to power of the PPP/C Government on October 5, 1992, that the economic tide shifted and the country began to breathe again.

In any event, the NRF will be replenished in multiple tranches with every new oil lift, which will be substantially more than what was withdrawn and this before the end of this current year. The fund is expected to grow exponentially over the coming years, which will allow for sustainable growth and development and a further enhancement of the quality of life of the Guyanese people.

This 2022 Budget will lift, as it were, all boats. There is something in it for all Guyanese, from the business community to the underprivileged and the vulnerable in our society. And yes, as Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh pointed out, there is also money for adjustments to wages and salaries for our public servants and pensioners.

The budget is people-oriented and developmental with a strong focus on job-creation and raising the standard of living of the Guyanese people, and all of that without any new taxes and significant reduction of existing taxation rates in a number of areas, especially those which impacted directly on food prices and the overall cost of living.