Economic populism continues to infect many in Guyana

Dear Editor
Guyana’s Budget 2024 is primarily a renewal of the PPPC’s promise to uplift, move forward, and protect the well-being of the citizens and residents of this country. But Budget 2024 is also a renewal of the promise to manage this economy responsibly, that is to strike a careful balance between medium and long investments on the one hand, and budgetary commitments and specific measures to enhance the human security and human development.
The path to long-term growth with enhanced livelihoods is to have the correct balance between investment and consumption. This is something the APNU, AFC, and many in the media and civil society do not understand. Rather than a carefully configured strategy of fostering economic growth and ensuring human security, opposition elements want the GoG to spend every dime on short-term consumption. More than that, they want to spend what we do not have.
Most Guyanese are aware that Venezuela has set a bad example in regional security and regional affairs. What they do not know is that Venezuela is also a poster child of economic disaster because they pursued the exact policies desired by the likes of Aubrey Norton, Annette Ferguson, Roysdale Forde, Sherod Duncan, and the two Lalls at Kaieteur. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world and had the highest standard of living in Latin America for several decades.
All that came crashing down because of economic populism and the killing of democratic governance, qualities quite familiar to the APNU and AFC. The basic error of the Bolivarian Revolution is that it used oil resources to fund massive give aways at a time (post 2014) when oil prices were dropping rapidly. The hallmark of economic populism is to make promises to the poor that you will be their savior. You proceed to give away money you don’t have. Soon, you become politically beholden to that which is no longer sustainable. You then sacrifice the productive side of the economy to keep up the funding for the promises you made.
This is what Aubrey Norton, Annette Ferguson, Rosydale Forde, Sherod Duncan, and the two Lalls want from the budget. Their motto is to stop investing; start consuming. Many of you will recall that one of the APNU-AFC’s top economists recommended giving every Guyanese US$ 1Million per person, a commitment that would make us bankrupt the next day.
A Editorial on 1/17/2024 has peddled the idea that only 6% of the budget is dedicated to alleviating poverty and that healthcare and education have been neglected. I do not know which budget speech they listened to because education and health have been allocated more than $250 billion, close to a quarter of the budget. When you combine that with the allocations for housing, water, and public security, you have close to 40% of the overall budget.
Thousands of jobs will be created in these sectors, and there will be immediate and direct benefits across the social structure and in all regions. KN takes nominal (annual) increases to make its case, rather than look at the time-series data from say, 2015 to today.
It is worth repeating for the benefit of APNU-AFC that Budget 2024 is deliberately constructed to balance medium- and long-term investments with more short-term commitments to protecting individuals and communities. In closing let me note that two pensioners living in the same home can count on a combined income of $72,000 monthly, and that is only their Old Age Pension. A person with a disability can now receive $43,000 monthly; and the minimum NIS monthly pay is now $43,000. For families, the $45,000 in Because We Care, plus the uniform allowance is real money. And two parents making $100,000 each will pay not one dime in taxes! On top of that, they can take a GOAL scholarship, get better qualified and increase their income. They can also get a house lot or Young Professional Home which will give them immediate wealth. The list goes on and on, but do not expect the APNU-AFC to get it. Most of all Budget 2024 is delivering what was promised, and will pay for it in ways that are sustainable.

Sincerely
Dr Randy Persaud