BUDGET 2024 was presented to the National Assembly on Monday, January 15, by Senior Minister of Finance with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh. This is the fifth budget presentation by the PPP/C since it assumed office on August 2020 and the fourth by Dr. Singh who commenced his tenure as Senior Finance Minister in November, 2020.

This year’s budget is by far the largest in the country’s history. It will be recalled that last year’s budget was $791.1 billion which was constructed under the theme ‘Improving Lives Today, Building Prosperity for Tomorrow.

That budget saw critical development programmes being fast-tracked and many more expanded to reflect the PPP/C’s administration transformational agenda for the country. The full financial and fiscal impact of this year’s allocation is better appreciated when seen against the backdrop of last year’s budget which was 41.4 per cent larger than the previous year.

This year’s Budget is historical in a number of ways. For the first time in the country’s history the Budget Estimates surpassed the one trillion mark. Estimated at $1.146 trillion, this represented a 46.6 per cent increase over the previous year.

It is the largest fiscal package the country has ever witnessed in its budgetary history. Indeed, all the sectors of the economy, especially the social sectors, will see unprecedented increases in their respective allocations.

Take the health sector as an example. A sum of $129.8 billion has been earmarked for that sector which is significantly more than the combined allocation for the entire five-year period under the previous APNU+AFC regime.

A noticeable pattern of expenditure can be seen in a number of other areas such as education, housing, water and Infrastructural development.

The housing sector has been allocated $78.6 billion, human services and social security $48.3 billion; the income tax threshold has been expanded to $100,000 monthly and old-age pension will go up effective January 2024 by an additional $3,000 dollars to $36,0000 per month, a 75 per cent increase since the election of the PPP/C administration in 2020.

These do not represent the full picture of sectoral allocations but they do provide a broad perspective on the human aspect of the PPP/C’s approach to development which is basically people-oriented and pro-poor.

As pointed out by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, all these measures are aimed at increasing disposable income, putting more money in the pockets of people, bolstering income for vulnerable groups and improving the system of services and governance.

Significant allocations were also set aside for employment generation under the part-time employment programme which has been making a significant impact on disposable income especially among the marginalised households and groups.

This year’s budget is indeed a budget for all, one in the words of President Ali that ‘will improve the lives of each and every single Guyanese citizen. This is Budget 2024, a budget that will address today’s priorities and also set the stage for tomorrow.

The political opposition, as customary, will no doubt seek to find ways of finding fault with aspects of the estimates, but as noted by Dr. Ashni Singh, the government is committed to sound policies for long-term sustainability and will not compromise the well-being of the country and its people on the altar of expediency or populism.

The PPP/C administration must be commended for being able to mobilize critical developmental finance to transform and modernize the economy and for laying a solid foundation for sustainable development and continuing prosperity for all, consistent with the overarching budget theme of ‘Staying the Course: Building Prosperity for All.’