APNU/AFC presented its Budget 2018 under the caption “Continuing on the Road to the Good Life”. Unfortunately, more accurately, Budget 2018 is really a document that deserves the title “Continuing on the Road to More Debilitating Debt”. I was assisted in this initial contribution on Budget 2018 by RA, a public servant who has to remain silent, fearing recrimination.
This past week, Finance Minister Jordon read APNU+AFC’s Budget 2018, the fourth budget since assuming office in May 2015. Budget2018 further solidifies the sad fact that both the minister and the entire APNU/AFC Government are clueless or ignorant of the needs of Guyanese, let alone building on the thriving economy they inherited from the PPP in May 2015. They continue to squander the solid economic framework and economic progress they inherited from the PPP in May 2015. Virtually all the economic pillars have declined since May 2015 and Budget 2018 is either oblivious or simply overwhelmed. One thing is certain about Budget 2018 – sugar, still one of the largest employer in Guyana, is dead. Mining, manufacturing, agriculture (including rice), forestry, tourism, housing and construction, the service industry have all been treated like step children and orphans in Budget 2018.
Budget 2018 further exposes APNU/AFC’s total reliance on Guyana becoming an oil economy. They inherited the possibility of oil from the PPP, but the PPP has always had a diverse economic framework, with oil to become one of the many pillars of a diversified economy. Budget 2018 does not contain any plans on how Guyana will utilize the oil pillar to reinforce and move Guyana forward with a diverse economic platform. OIL means much to Guyana, but it is an infant industry still and Guyana must never approach it as if it is a panacea. Budget 2018 contains nothing to show how Guyana will maintain its carbon sink and remain a green economy, even as OIL become an important part of the economy. Painting buildings green will not transform and sustain Guyana as a role model for a green economy.
My summary for Budget 2018 is that a clueless AFC is throwing darts like a blindfolded person, hoping to hit somewhere, anywhere, on the dart board. Budget 2018 is clueless, representing a clear and present danger for Guyana.
Budget 2018 continues the APNU/AFC’s economic framework of transferring resources from poor Guyanese families to APNU+AFC and their cronies. BUDGET 2018 presents a mountain of threats in a visionless milieu of sound bites. Jordon and his colleagues titled this latest con-game “Continuing on the Road to the Good Life”. The clear and present danger, however, is that Budget 2018 is a clear path towards “Continuing on the Road to More Debts”.
Sincerely,
Dr Leslie Ramsammy
