–PM Phillips says

PRIME Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips said Budget 2023 will be used to fund strategic projects and will mirror the accelerated development projected by President, Dr Irfaan Ali and the PPP/C administration.

The Prime Minister, during a special NCN Budget 2023 programme on Monday evening, said that Guyana is “on a trajectory of development” and that the investments in these mega projects will help to advance the country.

“This is the budget that will take Guyana forward,” Prime Minister Phillips said, highlighting several positives of the budget, including the energy sector.

When asked to elaborate on the Gas to Shore project, he stated that the project aims to reduce energy costs across the board.

He said this strategic move will have a positive effect on the economic growth of Guyana and will help to bring more investors to its shore.

“In the short term, we have the 50 megawatts that will provide electricity for the growing demand and the gas to shore will come on stream, and that will provide electricity that is not only reliable, but is far cheaper than what we pay for now. And it means that all the business sector, all the households, will benefit from that,” the Prime Minister said.

Additionally, he reminded listeners that the government’s objective is to transition to renewable energy sources.

“From a strategic standpoint, we are working towards not only investing in transitional energy, but also being more transformative in moving away from non-renewable to greater use of renewable energy. And that is enshrined in our Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030, whereby by 2030, 60 per cent of the energy that we are using will be from renewable sources,” Prime Minister Phillips said.

Notably, $1.8 billion has been budgeted for the hinterland project, which will provide solar PV lighting systems to 30,000 households in the hinterland and riverine areas.

“So, we are bridging the ICT divide. We are bridging the energy divide, we are bridging the infrastructural divide. We bridge the education divide in the regions, the health divide, as it pertains to life on the coastline and life in the hinterland,” Prime Minister Phillips said.

He also addressed the allocations to Amerindian communities, which saw a whopping $4.7 billion from Budget 2023 allocated for development programmes in the hinterland.
In addition, he reminded his audience that 15 per cent of the proceeds from the sale of carbon credits will go to Amerindian communities.

SECURITY
The Prime Minister also highlighted the importance of security in the 2023 budget and explained that a “sizable amount of money” has been allocated to not only improve the security sector, but also to enhance the country’s prisons and the way we respond to natural disasters.

“We are improving the way we deal with our prisoners. We are improving the installation and the facilities and the resources that go to firefighting; we are improving the police force in terms of the equipment that they need to respond to whenever there is crime, the Civil Defence Commission, we are improving the manner in which they respond to times of disaster,” the Prime Minister said.

He was joined by the Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill; the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony; the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai; the Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr Vindhya Persaud and Member Of Parliament, Dr Bheri Ramsaran, on the special budget programme. (Office of the Prime Minister)