PPP/C’s track record shows fiscal strength without burdening future generations – Jagdeo

…says the Party’s creative governance sets it apart from visionless rivals

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo, says this is the only party that has been able to create a sustainable and creative policy framework to manage the country over the years.
Jagdeo was at the time speaking with stakeholders during the PPP 2025 manifesto consultation held at the Ramada Princess Hotel. He pointed out that other political parties are campaigning on unsustainable policies for the upcoming September 1 General and Regional Elections.
However, Jagdeo noted that the ruling PPP/C has demonstrated, through various Governments, responsible management of Guyana’s economy – hauling the country out of heavy indebtedness in the past.
According to Jagdeo, who also serves as Vice President, this is already reflected in the current administration’s efforts to build out a post-oil and gas economy with sustained prosperity that would create wealth for the future.
He pointed out the PPP’s creativity in the management of the country’s natural and other resources that has laid the foundation for sustainable prosperity for future generations.

The Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which was crafted under Jagdeo’s presidency, positioned Guyana as one of the few countries that sought to monetise the safeguarding of its natural patrimony. Today, the revised LCDS 2030 is being used to transform the country.
Under the LCDS 2030, Guyana signed a historic deal back in December 2022 to sell 30 per cent of the country’s forest carbon to Hess Corporation – a US$750 million transaction that saw 20 per cent of the earnings going towards hinterland communities and is already transforming the lives of citizens in those villages. The remaining money is being used for climate adaptation initiatives such as replicas of the Hope Canal across the country to address flooding woes, especially in farming regions.
“We are the only party that has been able to do that – set out a framework and then use creativity to fund a lot of what other countries are looking for funding for and can’t find because they have fiscally stressed budgets. We’ve been able, without recourse to the treasury, to be able to finance and safeguard our country in that regard,” Jagdeo stated.
Wednesday’s manifesto consultation was attended by representatives from various institutions and stakeholders from different economic sectors who were invited to engage the party’s leaders on policy ideas for the next years. The feedback from that engagement will be added to the 7000 submissions the party has already received from the public.

Document of commitments
Back in April, the PPP had invited the public to make suggestions via WhatsApp towards its manifesto, and over 2000 submissions were received. Another 5000-plus suggestions were also presented to the party. Jagdeo said some submissions were repetitive, but they were all condensed into what he described as a ‘Document of Commitments’ that was shared with attendees at Wednesday’s consultation.
“Today, we’re looking to elaborate on these and update our manifesto,” the general secretary stated.
The PPP 2025 Manifesto is expected to be launched later this month as the party, through frontrunners President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, seeks a second term in office.
Assured stakeholders that their input is important, Jagdeo stressed “Don’t think for a moment that we would not take into consideration details of your submission… So, if you don’t see every idea reflected, know there is a commitment to addressing these and elaborating on them.”
The Vice President reminded that the PPP/C fulfilled, and in some cases exceeded, all of its 2020 manifesto promises, including reversing all the taxes imposed by the former APNU+AFC Coalition regime. He noted that the PPP/C’s sound macroeconomic environment is often overlooked.
He said the PPP has consistently had a long-term vision, and this has differentiated it from other parties over the years, which Jagdeo says have no vision or plan but just a series of “unsustainable promises”.
“That’s one important thing you can expect from us: continuation of sound macroeconomic management,” the VP declared.
He pointed out that Guyana’s economy has changed, with oil and gas now demanding the traditional management to be enhanced in order to avoid the risk of Dutch Disease given the windfall of revenue that this new sector brings.
“So, you need to be very careful and deliberate in how you manage this,” Jagdeo noted, highlighting the downfall of other countries that were not cautious.
It is for this reason, he noted, that the current PPP/C Administration led by President Ali has been aggressively laying out a diversification plan for Guyana, building traditional and new industries to create wealth for Guyana in the future.
“Some countries have been producing oil and gas for 75 years, and they don’t have a post-oil and gas strategy. We have already started working on that because that’s important to sustain any future prosperity so that the prosperity doesn’t become periodic… it’s sustained for generations. So, you can expect that continued work in the next five years,” the VP posited.
He went on to assure stakeholders that the PPP’s taxation policy would evolve by lowering taxes and increasing disposable income for people. In addition to wanting more money in people’s pockets, he stressed that this policy has to be family-friendly, hence the various interventions that the current administration has made, like tax relief for parents and for persons with second jobs.

“We don’t borrow to eat.”
On the party’s borrowing policy, Jagdeo declared, “We don’t borrow to eat; we borrow to invest in the future.”
Thus far, the country has borrowed for infrastructure projects to create greater wealth and for social programmes like building schools, but Jagdeo says this could soon stop.
“It is our hope that in the future, as we get more revenue, we will have to borrow less to finance the programmes. So, the budget will be supported more from the revenue [earned],” he stated.
In fact, this is already being done with major road projects done on the East Bank Demerara corridor and in Region Three, funded entirely from the national budget.
“So, our borrowing policy will be attenuated, but we have the capacity to borrow without burdening future generations, but that doesn’t mean we will do it,” he stated.
He also spoke of massive investments in human capital development and the creation of opportunities for all Guyanese with support through a development bank, education and other means so that they can take advantage of the wealth creation.
“We want every Guyanese to get wealthier, whether you have nothing now or you’re a big businessman. We want everybody to grow,” he asserted.