Govt holds final consultations with Private Sector ahead of Budget 2023

Ahead of Monday’s looming presentation of Budget 2023 in Parliament, the Guyana Government is continuing its final rounds of consultations with key stakeholders as it seeks to wrap up preparations.
Consequently, Senior Minister with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh on Wednesday held further discussions with various representatives of the local Private Sector.
Representatives attending the meeting included Ramesh Dookhoo from the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA); President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Timothy Tucker; Chairman of the Finance Sub-Committee of the Institute for Private Enterprise Development (IPED), Jagdesh Haripersaud; Director/Board Member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry Guyana, Rowena Elliott and Executive Director of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ian Chung.
According to a statement from the Finance Ministry, Wednesday’s meeting is a follow-up to the engagement President Dr Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Minister Mark Phillips and Minister Singh held with the Private Sector and other civil society stakeholders at State House last week.
During that event, a number of suggestions were made by the Private Sector for inclusion in the Budget.

On Monday, the Finance Ministry announced that the 2023 National Budget would be presented on Monday, January 16, 2023.
In preparation for this year’s Budget, Dr Singh has been meeting and consulting with various stakeholders, including the Private Sector, Government Ministries, other agencies and civil society over the past several months to listen to their concerns and receive suggestions.
Budget 2023 will be the fourth Budget presented to Parliament by the Irfaan Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration since it assumed office in August 2020.
It was noted that this year’s Budget will see critical development programmes for Government being fast-tracked and many more expanded to reflect Government’s continued transformational agenda for the country which has been taking it forward at a rapid pace over the last two years and five months since the PPP/C’s return to office.
According to the Finance Ministry, these Budgets have all reflected the party’s manifesto promises as well as additional initiatives that have been taking Guyana forward and transforming the country’s landscape at an extremely rapid pace as well as attracting attention on the world stage as the economy booms.
Only on Tuesday, the World Bank published the report “Global Economic Prospects” in which it projected that Guyana would be the only country in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region to record double-digit growth in 2023, with a growth rate of some 25.2 per cent, building on the 57.8 per cent expansion in 2022.
The first Budget presented by the PPP/C was an emergency one totalling $330 billion and was presented under the theme: “Our Plan for Prosperity: Protecting our People in a COVID-19 Environment; Strengthening Democracy and the Rule of Law; Incentivising Economic Growth and Job Creation; and Enhancing Welfare”.
In that first Budget, the PPP/C Government reversed a large number of harsh taxes instituted on citizens by the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
Meanwhile, the second Budget in 2021 totalled $383.1 billion and was presented under the theme: “A Path to Recovery, Economic Dynamism, and Resilience”. The Budget comprised a number of developmental measures and also included funding for the construction of a number of housing schemes and expansion of existing ones along with investment in the revitalisation of the country’s sugar industry.
There were also programmes that the Government implemented in partnership with Private Sector bodies and other stakeholders, especially with regard to the tourism, hospitality, and agricultural sectors. Several relief cash grant measures were also implemented and saw thousands of citizens across the country benefiting. A number of areas had been devastated by flooding, and Government also provided relief for affected persons especially those who had suffered the loss of crops and livestock. The health, infrastructure, and education sectors also saw major injections in Budget 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic was ongoing.
The third Budget, Budget 2022, which amounted to a whopping $552.9 billion, was unveiled under the theme “Steadfast Against All Challenges, Resolute in Building Our One Guyana”.
Budget 2022 also saw major injections in a number of sectors, including more expansion of the Government’s housing drive, the infrastructural sector catapulted with an increased number of roads and bridges constructed, energy expansion and diversification, provisions for persons with disabilities, several injections toward Amerindian and hinterland development as Government proved its commitment to bettering the lives of the Indigenous people. It also saw large injections in the health, education, and security sectors. (G8)