FACTS, it is said, are stubborn things. They cannot be dismissed or wished away. One fundamental fact of our current situation is that the country has been making extraordinary progress since the return of the PPP/C to office in August 2020.

This progress is all the more significant when consideration is taken of the fact that the country was on the brink on a political and constitutional crisis following the refusal of the then APNU+AFC regime to abide by the norms of democratic and constitutional governance.

But, as pointed out by President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the crisis the country found itself in during the previous administration was pervasive. As pointed out by the President, the PPP/C inherited many ‘free fall’ sectors from the previous administration.

Unlike the fragmented, piece-meal approach to development by the last administration, the PPP/C government in its fiscal package has outlined a holistic plan to develop the country, taking into account the sectoral needs of the country. This was all the more necessary given the precarious state of the economy and declining production levels.

The sugar industry, for example, declined by 31 billion dollars; forestry by 9 billion dollars and bauxite by 9 billion.  Gold reserves in the Central Bank declined from $25 billion to $800 million, a 97% decline from when the APNU+AFC assumed office to when they left office.

No less worrying was the fact that Central Government overdrafts at the Bank of Guyana increased by more than $114 billion. Central government deficit moved from $9.3 billion to $30 billion.
It does not require a trained economist to see that the country was on a downward spiral economically, thanks to economic mismanagement by the previous administration. Thankfully that trend of economic and social decline was arrested and reversed with the assumption to office of the PPP/C on August 2020.

The numbers do not lie and painted a dim picture of the state of the economy under the previous Granger administration. This stood in sharp contrast to the economic miracle the economy experienced under the new PPP/C administration. The economy is today among the fastest growing in the world despite the years of mismanagement by the previous administration.

Indeed, as noted by President Ali, the new administration had to unravel all that took place during the five years of APNU+AFC misrule including the removal of over 200 new taxes imposed on private businesses and consumers. The net result of those tax measures was an increase in tax revenues and an extraction of wealth from the pockets of consumers. Value-added tax increased by 43% with the overall tax rate effectively moving from 15% in 2024 to 22% under the previous administration.

This year’s budget estimates will further consolidate the economic and social gains made by the PPP/C administration while at the same time laying the foundation for the modernisation process currently underway.