Every single Guyanese will benefit from Budget 2024 – Dr Ashni Singh

Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh will deliver the eagerly-awaited Budget 2024 to the National Assembly on Monday.
As President Irfaan Ali visited the Finance Ministry on Saturday to interact with those behind the numbers, the Minister shared that this year’s fiscal plans were designed in the context of continuing Government’s policy framework set out since it entered office in 2020.
In sustaining its policies, there is something for every Guyanese and every sector. He assured that there will be opportunities for ‘personal upliftment’.
He gave a sneak peak, “Our fiscal plans for 2024 will be situated within the context of the ongoing implementation of the policy framework that we had laid out in the first instance in our 2020 manifesto. What you will hear on Monday is a wide range of interventions in every single sector, all of which are ultimately aimed at improving the lives across every single category of the population.”
Dr Singh underscored that the PPP/C Government is serious in ensuring that its policy objectives are met and there is continuity, budget after budget.
“We pride ourselves on the clarity of our policy objectives and our policy continuity. We don’t make policies in a haphazard manner. We are careful and meticulous and methodical in setting up our policy framework and we are very open and consultative…Once that policy framework is set out and articulated, we are consistent in its implementation.”
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had said this week that the Administration is continuing within the lines of no new taxes for 2024.
He added that Budget 2024 is expected to fund new economic infrastructure to increase productive capacity, support for industries, social infrastructure, significant support for vulnerable groups, expansion of job creation among other measures.
It was highlighted that Government has been fulfilling the needs and requests of the people, and supporting initiatives that will enhance the lives of citizens. While the PPP has allowed its manifesto to limit the scope of its initiatives, Jagdeo informed that over 90 per cent of their promises were fulfilled, with others in the process of being realised.
Government had said the National Budget would strike a balance between addressing the pressing needs and irritants of today, while simultaneously investing in the future. A primary focus was placed on policies designed to increase the disposable income and general quality of life for Guyanese.
Last year, the National Assembly approved the whopping $781.9 billion 2023 Budget – the first to be financed in part by revenues earned from Guyana’s historic carbon credit sale agreement and the largest ever in Guyana’s history.
Among the measures the PPP/C Government has taken since coming to power, was setting aside $5 billion in budget 2022 to ease the rising cost of living on Guyanese and reversing over 200 taxes and fees imposed by former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
Other policies include reducing the excise tax on fuel from 50 per cent in 2021 to 10 per cent in 2022. The excise tax was ultimately removed in March 2022.
The Government also distributed a $25,000 COVID cash grant to every household, $1.7 billion to 220 Amerindian communities and $1.3 billion to severed sugar workers, bumped old-age pension up from $20,500 to $33,000 between 2020 and 2023, restored water and electricity subsidies to pensioners and provided over $200 million electricity credit to vulnerable households.
Additional measures include increasing the income tax threshold from $65,000 to $85,000, increasing and extending the “Because We Care” cash grant, increasing public assistance, providing billions in assistance to farmers, among other measures.
For 2023, the PPP/C Government provided a 6.5 per cent increase across the board for public servants. Healthcare workers were also given an increase in salary. (G12)