-Ministers confident of fiscal package

THE projected budget for 2024 is expected to continue fostering the ongoing growth in all sectors of Guyana’s economy, ultimately leading to an improvement in the quality of life for all Guyanese citizens.

Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, who underscored that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is always committed to honouring its promises made to the people, said that this year’s budget is consistent with that objective.

She made these remarks during a panel discussion with several other ministers on Tuesday.

“It’s been financed with no new taxes, and so I know the opposition will come to parliament next week when the debates start to claim that they are a people-centred party, but what we have to remind them a lot of the measures that we have put in place in budget 2024 and in the previous budgets are people-centred,” she said.

Backing this up with proof, the minister highlighted the ‘Because We Care’ grant, which, along with the uniform grant, has seen an allocation of $8.1 billion this year.

Furthermore, she affirmed that the government’s implemented initiatives are intended to enhance the well-being of the entire Guyanese population.

Placing emphasis on her sector, the minister remarked that the rapid development that is occurring in the sector will continue. A budget of $78 billion has been allocated for the purpose of supporting the advancement of housing infrastructure in the year 2024.

“Housing is one of those ministries that people talk about a lot because of its major impact on people’s lives and it’s a very critical ministry; and we are producing those transformational effects on people’s lives,” she stressed.

The minister further stated that this year, house lot allocations will continue as the government progresses on the path of delivering 10,000 lots annually.

As it pertains to water, since assuming office, the PPP/C Administration has increased hinterland water supply from 46 per cent, in 2020 to 86 per cent in 2023.

The upgrading of the 12 existing water-treatment plants will also be completed in 2024, along with the substantial completion of seven new water-treatment plants. An amount of $22.5 billion has been earmarked for the purpose of upgrading and extending water-supply systems.

“The budget allocation is to ensure that we deliver on these projects with our objectives in both the housing and water sectors,” Rodrigues said.

Furthermore, deeming budget 2024 “historic,” Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat, said that the advancement of citizens’ lives is projected in this year’s fiscal plan.

He pointed out how the gas-to-energy project, which has a budget of $80 billion for 2024, will enhance Guyana.

“The gas-to-energy project will reduce the cost of living in this country and advance and improve the standard of living of our people, simply by reducing the cost of power generation,” the minister said.

DEVELOPMENT

The Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, highlighted the “massive transformation” that is being facilitated in the 2024 budget.

Apart from the measures that are being put in place to benefit men, women, children, and the vulnerable, he said that 2023 did not disappoint for the agricultural sector, and 2024 will continue this tremendous growth. A sum of $97.6 billion has been earmarked for the advancement of agriculture.

“This sector is poised to take off. This year we are looking to construct the first food hub in the Caribbean in Guyana, where Guyana will be a distribution point…” he said, while stressing that this will aid in the goal of reducing the food- import bill by 25 per cent by 2025.

“This came about because of the government’s vision and investment in terms of driving the agriculture sector,” he said, while emphasising the fact that Guyana is leading the agricultural system in the Caribbean.

Touching more on the sub-sectors within agriculture, the minister said that sugar has seen a 28 per cent growth spurt. This is significant since sugar was neglected under the previous administration.

In 2017, the former APNU+AFC Coalition Government had announced the closure of several sugar estates across the country, leaving thousands of persons without jobs or sources of income. The move saw four sugar estates being closed and over 7,000 sugar workers losing their jobs.

The Rose Hall Estate, prior to its closure, was “home” to some 2,500 sugar workers, but 1,181 of those were retrenched. The remaining workers from the Rose Hall Estate were transferred to Blairmont Estate over in West Coast Berbice and Albion Estate on the Corentyne.

Guyana, in the past, had depended heavily on revenue from sugar, which was one of the country’s largest income earners, until it started “drowning” in debt. The industry became insolvent mainly because the cost of production was higher than the market price for the commodity.

It was reported in the past that GuySuCo produced sugar at an average cost of US$0.35 per pound, while world market prices have averaged US$0.16 per pound.

Although the sugar industry has been considered a liability for years, the PPP administration is hoping to “lift the industry from the ashes.”