Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 10, 2017 News
-says days gone for last-minute contracts just to spend money
The National 2018 budget will have “no new taxes” Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has
assured.
At a press conference held in the Ministry of Finance’s boardroom, Jordan said Budget 2018 seeks to provide an incentive to some sectors and promote small business growth.
“Anything in this budget is about cleaning up or providing an incentive or two as promised. We promised some sectors we will see how we can support them in this renewal,” Minister Jordan added.
Budget 2018 will also seek to create the conditions for small business growth.
“All small businesses, all entrepreneurial activities that can increase the pool of household income, community income, and the national income are to be considered and encouraged,” he noted.
The Minister pointed out that since his administration took office, it has worked to reduce taxes for the Guyanese people. These include the removal of VAT from a range of products and the removal of tax from NIS and increasing the public wages.
“I’ve never introduced a new tax… they were all the same tax. All we were doing is playing cards…. we were shuffling them around and so forth,” he explained.
The Ministry of Finance yesterday wrapped up budget consultations.
The Finance Minister noted this year his ministry has “broadened the pool” of persons who participated in the consultations to include a wide selection of youth and young entrepreneurs among the “traditionalists”.
Minister Jordan summed up the consultation as being generally positive. He added that the focus of discussions remained on the “traditionalist sense” of economic stimulation.
The Minister is expected to present the 2018 Budget to the National Assembly in November.
Meanwhile, speaking on the delays of the implementation of the Public Sector Investments Projects (PSIPs), the minister made it clear that a number of factors are affecting spending.
The administration is behind spending of the $250B budget it unveiled for 2017.
With consumer and government spending critical for moving the economy along, analysts say that both are down. While consumer spending cannot be helped much, in the absence of measures, the dependence of Government expenditure in areas of contracts is supposed to boost the situation.
However, Jordan admitted yesterday, government spending has taken a “knock”.
He said that the populace voted for transparency and accountability, and this is a priority. He said the procurement systems are now actually working, and as a result there are some delays. He noted that in the past, under the previous administrations of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), there is evidence of a mad rush to dole out contracts when the budget cycle was nearing an end. This affected implementation.
No longer also could someone call an official and say that they want a contract, the Minister stressed.
“The procurement system, from advertising for bids; evaluation, award and mobilizing process, are all working…the awards are not being done by a click of a finger.”
Jordan said that the administration is hiring retired public servants, including teachers, to broaden the pool of evaluators. He admitted that the country is lacking seriously in human resource.
The Minister lamented the absence of proper procurement planning in many state entities, with many of the officials just “dividing by 12” to justify projects.
However, he said, instead of criticizing, the administration prefers to building capacity and provide training by “holding hands”.
Government has been meeting with budget heads, including the Permanent Secretaries regularly, even at the Cabinet level, for updates on state contracts and spending.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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