Opposition’s Budget 2025 criticisms amateurish, inept, lazy – VP Jagdeo

In a fiery press conference on Thursday, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo lashed out at the main political opposition The Alliance For Change (AFC) and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) for what he called “amateurish, inept, and lazy” critiques of the 2025 National Budget.
The Vice President, also the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), expressed his frustration at what he described as shallow, uninformed, and misleading comments from opposition spokespersons, regarding the government’s fiscal plan.
Dr. Jagdeo highlighted the careful design of the budget, emphasizing its focus on poverty alleviation, economic empowerment, and sustainable development.
He argued that the opposition’s failure to engage with the technical details of the fiscal plan reflects their lack of capacity to govern effectively.
“We can’t eat roads and bridges. They did a lot of research to get to that – Nigel Hughes – we can’t eat. He did big research into the infrastructure of the country and what it’s directed to. So, I’m going to go through a few of these things so that you have a perspective on how stupid, silly sometimes these things are. And if we hope that this inept bunch of people can ever chart the way forward for our country, the leadership of the AFC and APNU, then we’re in for a shock,” the VP told media during his weekly press conference.
Jagdeo underscored that the 2025 Budget prioritises targeted interventions, including significant investments in housing, job creation, and skills training. These measures, he explained, are part of a broader strategy to tackle poverty in a multifaceted way.
“They spent more money building offices for Ministers and upgrading administrative buildings than we are spending now in the period when we didn’t have oil money. Because their comfort mattered more than the schools or the hospitals… Where is the money going? It is going to build a power plant that will drop the price of electricity by 50 percent and cooking gas. $388 million of saving when they’re done, so APNU doesn’t believe that’s a priority… Their trying to kill that project,” the Vice President said.
He dismissed as “uninformed rhetoric”, opposition claims that the budget offers “nothing for anyone” and countered that these claims are aimed at misleading the public.
The VP pointed out that key allocations in the budget, such as housing subsidies, education grants, and tax relief measures, are designed to directly benefit vulnerable populations.
Further, taxpayers in the public and private sector will breathe a sigh of relief as the government increases the income tax threshold from $100,000 to $130,000.
This intervention places an additional $8.5 billion in disposable income into the pockets of taxpayers, while removing 22,000 persons from the tax bracket.
Dr. Jagdeo expressed disappointment with the opposition’s failure to substantiate their criticisms of this particular invention with meaningful analysis.
“Under APNU, the tax threshold was $65,000 per month. So, anytime you work above $65,000 you started paying taxes… what we did, the first $130,000 you don’t pay no taxes; then the next $120,000, that $250,000, you pay 25 percent, and then beyond $250,000 we drop the rate from 40 percent to 35 percent. This is pro-people and pro-poor,” he stated.
“I’ll like to hear Norton speak about this when their economic spokesperson go there to parliament,” Jagdeo added.
On January 17, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government presented a $1.382 trillion budget, marking the second budget in Guyana’s history to cross the trillion-dollar mark.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr Ashni Singh, presented the 2025 budget under the theme ‘A secure, prosperous and sustainable Guyana’.