A month after President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced that the government would remove all duties and taxes on mobile phones, the National Assembly approved the relief measure.
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh piloted the motion to remove the 20 per cent tax on cellphones at a sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday. This was approved by the House.
See below the full release from the Ministry of Finance:
Senior Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh today tabled the Order and successfully piloted the Motion to remove the 20 percent tax on cell phones, which was endorsed by the National Assembly. This is in keeping with the announcement made by His Excellency President Irfaan Ali on June 9 2023.
President Ali noted that the PPP/C government remains committed to bridging the divide in the country.
“One of the important things about the future is the use of technology. A phone is no longer just to make a phone call; people are doing degrees on their phone, and people are conducting business on their phone,” he noted. The Head-of-State recognised that phones are an integral part of the transformation of Guyana.
One of the first things the Irfaan Ali-led administration did after assuming office in 2020 was to liberalise the telecommunications sector. This paved the way for new, local companies to enter the sector and resulted in tangible benefits, including greater access to connectivity, with expansions in Linden, Essequibo and Berbice, and reduced prices.
It would be recalled in 2021, Value Added Tax (VAT) on residential and individual data was removed and as announced in Budget 2020, VAT was removed on the purchase of cell phones.
