GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – President Irfaan Ali says when Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh unveils the 2024 national budget in the next couple weeks, “it will deliver on our promise to continuously improve the lives of Guyanese.”
“Guyanese will benefit from improved infrastructural and public services, including water, housing, and education. Several major road projects are slated for completion and will make commuting easier,” Ali said in a New Year’s Day broadcast.
“We expect 2024 sugar production to be increased as we continue to invest in the sector’s contribution to rural employment and the rural economy. Rice production, aquaculture, and other initiatives will increase food production.”
He assures Guyanese that 2024 will also see significant investment in education, including preparations for the roll-out of free university education in 2025.
“The capacity and capabilities of our Defense Force will be strengthened to allow for improvements in the defense of our sovereignty and our territorial integrity,” said Ali, as Venezuela continues to claim ownership of the Essequibo region, which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 125,000 of the country’s 800,000 citizens.
Ali also called for an end to the “carnage on our roads,” saying that the authorities will implement “a robust road safety and traffic management plan” and intends to have a national conversation on this issue within the coming days.
“Out of that conversation, new laws, regulations, and technology will be implemented to stop the carnage on our roads.”
He promises the nation that cost-of-living interventions will cushion any price spikes, adding, “We want to put more money into people’s pockets.
“Our policy-making matrix will address this ideal and the idea of putting more money in the pockets of our people. Workers will continue to benefit from increases in wages and salaries, augmenting the other measures we will take to enhance household disposable incomes.”
He said work will commence on constructing a new international–branded hotel near the Georgetown Seawall and that the ongoing construction of other hotels will be intensified.
“Guyana’s energy security plans will be advanced through the ongoing works for building a gas-to-shore energy plant that will reduce energy costs. The hinterland electrification program will be expanded to bring electricity to more hinterland residents.
Investments in culture and sports infrastructure will improve sports grounds, playfields, and cultural facilities.”
The Guyanese leader said that his administration would “also be addressing in a very frontal way, the issues of mental health, suicide; advancing measures to increase disposable income; supporting the building of consortiums to enable our people further to benefit from the opportunities here; manufacturing and industrial development expansion, supporting through incentivizing investment in manufacturing and industrial development; more community investment aimed at creating community safe spaces, community security, community livelihood, community empowerment.
“We will see a robust plan to advance our communities and country’s security architecture and infrastructure. Direct policies and policy orientation towards tourism initiatives and expanding our tourism product, and comprehensive policy to address squatting, especially on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway,” he added.
But while Ali spoke of a “phenomenal” 40 percent economic growth in 2023, a more than 21.5 percent increase in the salary base of all public servants since 2020, increased the tax threshold from GUY$65,000 to GUY$85,000 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) the Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton said Guyanese were still saddled with poverty.
“Most Guyanese would agree that the PPP made 2023 one of the hardest years in living memory. On the economic front, the cost of living kept surging as real incomes declined. Poverty and inequality increased. Living from paycheck to paycheck became a tougher challenge. Many parents, especially single parents, could not afford to feed their children properly,” Norton said in his address to the nation.
“This Christmas, many families were forced to spend less. Yet, despite these hardships in 2023, the …government showed no urgency, capacity, or concern to ease the burden on the people,” he said.
Norton reiterated that the government spent most of the oil revenue to enrich its “friends, families, and favorites” “at the expense of the ordinary people.”
He said that if elected to government at the next general and regional elections, constitutionally due in 2o25, the focus would be on human development and eliminating poverty.
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