Tax cuts, financial reforms, investments to boost Guyanese incomes in next PPP/C term – Pres Ali

Creating financial reforms that will ensure Guyanese can gain more disposable income for themselves, will be among the priorities in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government’s next term in office, including with more Government-backed investments and the establishment of a national development fund.

This was revealed by President, Dr Irfaan Ali during his speech at the 59th Independence Flag Raising ceremony at Albion, East Berbice-Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Sunday night. According to President Ali, who also announced September 1st as the date for the upcoming elections, financial reforms will be a major feature in the next five years.
“Of course, the financial transformation is critical for the modern Guyana that we are building. Greater financial inclusion and financial independence for all is a priority of the future, so that we can increase disposable income; so that we can support the vulnerable segments of our population, including our children, women and the elderly.”
“We have to transform our financial system so that we can create more business opportunities. We can deploy more capital at every levels of our community, including Government-backed investment, the creation of a national development fund, financial reforms that would lead to capital market reforms, banking system reforms, innovative investment instruments, and making it easier for you to own your own vehicles,” Ali said.
According to the President, these financial reforms will also include tax reforms to put more back into the economy and expand economic growth. As a matter of fact, the President promised that there would be further reductions of personal and corporate income taxes, as well as a digital payment system to make doing business easier and safer. This year, personal income tax was reduced from 28 per cent to 25 per cent.
“The future also requires economic transformation, which includes economic diversification, expanding the economic base of our country, so that we can build our competitiveness. We can build our global competitiveness not only in the energy- the oil and gas- sector, but in every sector of our economy.”
“We are going to continue to work to reduce the cost of electricity so that Guyanese households and businesses can enjoy the fact that we are an energy-rich and secure country. We’re going to leverage our energy surplus to create jobs,” the President said.
President Ali also announced specific measures that will target every economic sector. According to him, the Government will continue to support traditional sectors such as rice, sugar, gold, bauxite, diamond, quarrying.
“In all of this, we want to see greater investments so that we can add more value to our natural asset. We’re going to continue to make investments to build out industrial parks, support manufacturing, and energy investment. We’re going to create higher value goods and services and support small and medium-sized enterprises as part of the economic transformation.”
“With economic transformation, over the last four years, we have once again positioned Guyana as the number one country globally in producing our own food and expanding our own capacity to feed ourselves,” Ali added.
It had been revealed earlier this year that in 2024, Guyana’s non-oil economy expanded by 13.1 per cent as a result of growth in the rice sectors, other crops, bauxite and other mining, quarrying and others.
Meanwhile, the oil and gas sector expanded by 57.7 per cent due to the ramp-up in production on the Prosperity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. Crude oil exports increased by 55 per cent. The gold mining industry also recorded a 0.5 per cent growth while the manufacturing sector expanded by over 13 per cent. Growth was recorded in the services sector as well as others.
It has also been projected that the Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry sectors were expected to grow by 11.4 per cent, as increased production is targeted for all subsectors. Meanwhile, the other crops subsector has been projected to grow by 11.7 per cent this year. This will include an expansion of the acreage being cultivated.
In the area of mining, it was projected that mining and quarrying would grow by 10 per cent this year. This is on the back of the “modest growth” expected from the oil and gas and support services sector.