-expected to unveil more cost-of-living measures

PRESIDENT Dr. Irfaan Ali will, today, address the National Assembly and is expected to unveil a sleuth of measures geared at addressing the rising cost of living, which is being induced primarily by global economic factors.
According to the official Order Paper for the 86th Sitting of the 12th Parliament of Guyana, the legislative body will resume following a recess since August, and after several presentation papers and reports, Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, will temporarily suspend the sitting to receive President Ali.

This will be the Head of State’s second time addressing the National Assembly since assuming office in 2020.
Last month, Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, hinted that the Head of State would further discuss the government’s plans to address the rising cost of living in the country.
“I know we have a ton of ideas, and the President will speak at the opening of the Parliament,” Dr. Jagdeo said at a news conference.

In the 2024 National Budget, $7 billion was allocated to implement measures to cushion the impact of the cost of living.
According to Dr, Jagdeo, those funds have not yet been utlilised.

“The money is still in the budget, not being utilised as yet for specific interventions on cost of living.”
The effects of global economic conditions have significantly impacted different regions, yet the people of Guyana have been shielded from the worst consequences, due to the deliberate policies and programmes implemented by the PPP/C Government.

Just last month, President Ali said that despite being challenged by the shocks brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the pressures from rising transportation costs, and rising costs in the movement of goods and services, the Government of Guyana has remained resilient in its response.
The shocks, he reminded, are not limited to Guyana. Citing a recent article by a global financial expert, Dr. Ali noted that global inflation spiked in 179 countries, with countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom recording inflation rates that reached a 40-year high in 2022.

Unlike those countries, Guyana, the President noted, had been “importing” those rising costs.

The Head of State had said: “We are importing that inflation. What we have done as the government, very successfully, is [establish] measures that we put in place to cushion that inflationary costs and rising costs, so that the effect was not transported to the consumer.”