Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh on Wednesday evening announced that Budget 2025 would be presented to the National Assembly on Friday January 17.
In December 2024, Dr Singh had told Guyana Times that the Finance Ministry had received budget submissions from various Government agencies, and had held consultations with various stakeholders as part of the 2025 budget cycle. He had said that these engagements played a major role in drafting out the 2025 Budget.
The Finance Minister had assured that Budget 2025 would continue the PPP/C Administration’s commitment to improving the lives of all Guyanese and creating opportunities for citizens to thrive.
The 2024 Budget, “Staying the Course, Building Prosperity for All”, which amounted to $1.146 trillion, had set out a comprehensive plan for improving the livelihoods of Guyanese citizens. In that Budget presentation, the Finance Minister had announced a menu of measures that were intended to put in excess of $70 billion in relief for persons and business. The income tax threshold has been increased from $85,000 to $100,000. With this jump, taxpayers in the public and private sectors had seen $4.8 billion going directly to improve their disposable incomes.
Meanwhile, the “Because We Care” cash grant was increased from $35,000 to $45,000 per child, benefiting 205,000 school-aged children in both public and private schools, and putting an overall $9.2 billion in the hands of parents.
Old age pension increased from $33,000 to $36,000. NIS pension moved from $35,000 monthly to $43,075.
Meanwhile, public assistance was increased from $16,000 to $19,000, with 35,000 persons with disabilities standing to benefit from an additional $1.2 billion.
To improve access to health services for all citizens, the Finance Minister had said, provisions were allotted for over 205,000 students and 76,000 pensioners to receive a $3,000 voucher towards the cost of an eye test. This measure comes at a cost of over $840 million.
Additionally, for those from these categories who require spectacles, a $15,000 voucher was allocated towards the cost of acquisition.
Supporting early detection of cervical cancer, the Government had announced that it will be providing a voucher of $8,000 for women between the ages of 21 and 65 to meet the cost of cervical cancer testing. This intervention will cost an estimated $2.8 billion.
In a move to ease the cost of living, Government had indicated its intention to absorb the impact of elevated fuel prices. The measure, which has been maintained with zero percent excise tax on petroleum products, would be kept in place. It is estimated that this measure had seen Government foregoing some $40 billion in revenue.
Government had launched, in 2022, the part-time jobs programme by which one person per household was able to earn $40,000 by working in public offices in close proximity to their homes. In 2023, over 15,000 persons were employed through this programme; and in 2024, this programme was expected to be expanded with an allocation of over $10 billion.
Budget 2025 is expected to not only eclipse the 2024 budget in size, but also give effect to many of the measures President Dr Irfaan Ali had announced in October that would help with the cost of living.
One of the key measures announced was a one-time cash grant of $200,000 for every household, which subsequently became a one-time cash grant of $100,000 for every adult Guyanese. That is to say, every Guyanese 18 years old and older by January 2025 is qualified to receive the one-off payment.
Already, 400,000 citizens over the age of 18 have registered for the cash grant and the rollout of the cash grant has begun for the elderly and public servants.
Over 300,000 cheques are being printed, 95,000 of which have already been distributed.
President Ali had also announced, at a press conference at State House last month, that budget 2025 would cater for the General and Regional Elections that are expected this year by including the necessary funding for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
