GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh Monday night presented Guyana’s record national tax-free budget of GUY$781.9 billion (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) that President Dr. Irfaan Ali described as ‘transitional” saying it addresses the immediate needs of citizens while making significant investments for the future.
During a presentation lasting just over five hours, the Finance Minister said that the budget presented under the theme “Improving Lives Today, Building Prosperity Tomorrow” is 41.4 percent larger than the 2022 fiscal package.
But in an immediate response to the budget, Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, said the government failed to include measures that would slow down inflation and the steep cost of living.
“There are absolutely no measures in this budget to deal with inflation. While I agree that there is a need for assistance, one also recognizes that if you are putting money into the system without measures to deal with inflation, the cost of living will go up further. So in some regard, this budget is a recipe for increasing the people’s cost of living,” he said in a video recording.
Singh told legislators that the budget contains a series of interventions intended to create wealth for Guyanese while diversifying the country’s economic prospects and bolstering nationwide growth.
“Our government is committed to sound policies for long-term sustainability. PPP/C (People’s Progressive Party/Civic) governments do not compromise the long-term well-being of our country and our people at the altar of expediency or populism,” he added.
Singh said that the budget also makes provision for the three billion dollars in salary adjustments, benefitting 5,000 healthcare workers and 9,000 members of the disciplined services, with effect from January 1, as had been previously announced by President Ali.
An increase in the monthly income tax threshold from GUY$75,000 to GUY$85,000 monthly, releasing a total of GUY$3.3 billion while removing 12,000 taxpayers from the tax net, is also included.
The government said that the recipients of the “Because We Care Cash Grant” will benefit from an increase from GUY$ 25,000 to GUY$ 35,000. It said more than 214,000 schoolchildren in public and private schools would benefit from the initiative and provide an additional GUY$ 2.1 billion in the hands of their parents.
Singh said that as it relates to the cost of fuel, zero excise taxes on fuel will be maintained to absorb the impact of volatile fuel prices as long as fuel prices remain elevated at an estimated cost of GUY$17 billion.
In addition, the government has announced that GUY$ 10 billion has been allocated to expand the part-time jobs program. Five billion dollars will also go towards the additional cost of living measures determined from the ongoing community engagements.
Consideration has also been given to the vulnerable, with the old-age pension being increased from GUY$28,000 to GUY$33,000 and placing an additional $4.4 billion of disposable income in the hands of 73,000 pensioners.
Public assistance will also be increased from GUY$14,000 monthly to GUY$16,000 to benefit over 29,000 persons and place an additional GUY$700 million in disposable income on these individuals.
The government also announced that the low-income mortgage ceiling has been increased from GUY$15 million to GUY$20 million, reducing the cost of borrowing within this range from commercial banks, and further incentivizing home ownership.
This year, GUY$ 84.9 billion has been budgeted for the health sector, including more than half a billion dollars for training healthcare professionals and more than $900 million to address non-communicable diseases, including mental health.
The government has allocated GUY $94.4 billion has been given to improve access to education further as well as GUY $2.1 billion to continue the rollout of the National School Feeding Programme, GUY $3.4 billion to procure textbooks for use at primary and secondary schools and $12.4 billion to improve education infrastructure across the country.
Further, GUY$ 1.8 billion has also been allocated towards the GOAL scholarship program, which caters to 8,555 new and 1,047 continuing students.
In the housing sector, GUY$ 54.5 billion has been budgeted for housing development in new and existing areas, including constructing roads, drains, and bridges and installing utilities to meet housing demands.
Amerindian and hinterland development will benefit from an allocation of GUY$ 13.52 billion, while the agriculture sector will receive a financial injection of GUY$ 26 billion.
Singh said that the budget is the first fiscal package to benefit from the sale of Guyana’s carbon credits, which will amount to GUY$31.3 billion in revenue in 2023, alongside a transfer of GUY$208.9 billion from the NRF to the consolidated fund this year.
“Budget 2023 is that transitional budget as we start to work on a framework that utilizes new forms of income that utilize the new revenue stream that our country will be pursuing,” President Ali said during a live update on his official Facebook page.
He said the budget includes direct measures geared towards all citizens’ comprehensive and holistic development.
“We continue to deliver…deliver on you the policies and programs that will bring prosperity to every home. The type of policies and programs will help every stratum of our society.
“It is a budget with a difference. It is a budget that points to the future aspirations of our country, laying out the bedrock and framework for an economy that must be built to become resilient, sustainable, and strong in 2030 and beyond,” Ali added.
But Norton said that the government’s emphasis appeared to focus on statistical economic growth rather than on disbursing monies to the people from oil revenues.
He noted the income tax threshold increase, old age pensions, and public assistance as examples of limited cash flows to ordinary Guyanese.
“The Minister was announcing billions in income from oil…It is our considered opinion that this budget is a dismal failure.
“The resources of this country are not meeting the people. I would have thought that in this circumstance, he would have also been announcing wage increases for the year because the 8 percent is inadequate, and we know it is a serious problem,” Norton added.
Norton said this year’s budget had no measures to stimulate manufacturing by reducing the cost of living and predicted that at least 25 percent of the fiscal package would end up in corruption through the heavy emphasis on infrastructural projects.
Norton said there should have been greater emphasis on education to monitor oil production, including auditing the cost of oil and ensuring that Guyana gets its rightful share. He said poverty reduction and poverty alleviation are absent from the 2023 budget.
“This seems to be a budget for the rich. There is no place in this budget to deal with the issues of the small man and allow him to progress o in some respects. This is an anti-working class, anti-poverty budget. It has nothing to do with poverty and to improve the lives of the people of Guyana,” Norton added.
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