Lacklustre start to budget debate

Feb 17, 2009 News

The Budget debates 2009 began yesterday with a very unimpressive presentation in the National Assembly by People’s National Congress Reform member Basil Williams.
Last week, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, presented the $128.9 billion budget in the House.
Yesterday, speakers from both sides of the House began debating the budget, throwing barbs at each other over the contents of the document and, in some instances, the lack thereof.
In Williams’s presentation, instead of one by shadow Minister of Finance within the PNCR, Winston Murray, he said that to present the Budget under the theme ‘Working Together — Reinforcing Resilience’ is somewhat of a misnomer, as there was no ‘working together’ with the trade union movement in creating it.
He told the National Assembly that the budget was presented against the backdrop of a global recession, but that the Minister of Finance never outlined the consequences of the crisis for Guyana.
Indeed, from the beginning of this global crisis, he added, President Jagdeo had said that Guyana was insulated and not locked in to the global economy, and in any event, the Government was setting up a ‘firewall.’
He asked the National Assembly yesterday, “Where in this budget has that firewall been erected to protect Guyana’s economy from the raging winds of this global recession?”
According to him, the truth of the matter is that Guyana’s economy is an integral part of the global economy, as it depends heavily on financial assistance from that economy.
Williams said that there is no measure in this budget to increase the spending power of the workers of the country, along with no tax cuts to reduce the number of taxes and tax rates.
There are no provisions to increase the income tax threshold and for the reduction of VAT as part of a comprehensive tax reform of the tax system, he said.
“The budget does not provide for any increases in wages and salaries for our workers. Our workers, policemen, soldiers, teachers, nurses and public servants, are condemned to suffer losses in their real income, in purchasing power, and their standard of living and quality of life.”
According to Williams, workers are now left to live off of their wits and ‘to sink or swim’ by whatever means necessary.
In responding to Williams’s presentation, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds said that the taxes and revenue in 2009 will amount to $90.3B.
The remaining $37.5B will be accumulated from soft loans and grants, he added.
The Prime Minister said that it is rather premature to have at this time a section in the budget that comes up with stimulus packages in dealing with the contagion in the world. Stimulus packages, he added, feature infrastructure, money spending in improving health and education, and these are features that already exist in the 2009 Budget.
According to the Prime Minister, even though the budget does not address a stimulus package, it can be seen as a stimulus package appropriate for Guyana at this time.