See below the full statement issued by the Ministry of Finance:
With the country’s economy continuing to expand at a rapid pace and transformation being visible throughout Guyana as construction projects continue with many nearing completion and the agriculture and tourism sectors especially growing, Guyana’s National Assembly today approved over $40 Billion in Supplementary Funding following the completion of debates by both sides of the House. The Supplementary Funding in the form of Financial Papers Numbers 1 and 2 of 2024 was presented to the National Assembly on July 31 last during the 84th Sitting of the Twelfth Parliament by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service Dr. Ashni Singh. The presentation sought approval catering for Supplementary Estimates (Current) in relation to advances made from the Contingency Fund totalling $8.6 Billion for the period 2024-04-01 to 2024-07-30 while Financial Paper Number 2 caters for Supplementary Estimates (Current and Capital) totalling $32.2 Billion for the period ending 2024-12-31.
In the area of electricity, one of the important facets upon which the expanded economy will highly depend in terms of reliability and supply, the supplementary funding of $16 Billion was approved, paving the way for additional resources to be provided for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and an additional $1.1 Billion to support the electricity companies in Linden, Lethem, Mabaruma and Matthew’s Ridge. This is part of Government’s initiative to assist these areas by absorbing the impact of rising fuel prices on the cost of services provided by electricity companies, ensuring that increased fuel costs do not result in higher electricity prices for Guyanese. In addition to absorbing these costs, the Government has over the last years implemented several other measures to mitigate increased fuel prices, including removing the Excise Tax on fuel in March 2022 saving citizens over $80 Billion annually. Then, in terms of increasing reliability by GPL, in May this year, 36-megawatts of power was added to the national grid through an agreement with the Turkish Company Karpowership.
In a recent statement, President Irfaan Ali reminded that Government has taken a number of initiatives to combat inflated prices and the cost of living worldwide so that these prices are not transferred in totality to Guyanese consumers.
“Increase in food prices has destabilized and impacted access, availability and utilization of food. Here in Guyana, we are seeing the deliberate policies of the Government cushioning families, cushioning communities from this impact….our saving rate is increasing, our asset accumulation rate at the family and community level is increasing, the net value of people, the net value in terms of your asset value is also increasing, household income, more disposable income is in the communities. This is not by accident, this is by the deliberate intervention of the Government.”
Agriculture-one of the country’s traditional and non-oil sectors is another area in which Government has placed specific focus in terms of its expansion. This is not only to allow for economic diversity, but Dr. Singh had often reiterated that Government intends to ‘use this period of oil production to invest in the things that are necessary to ensure long term growth and wellbeing for all the people of Guyana long beyond the oil era’. In addition, with Guyana being the lead country on agriculture at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) level, expanding this sector is integral for CARICOM to fulfill its goal of cutting its food import bill by 25 percent by 2025. Recently, in a report presented at the 47th Caricom Heads of Government Meeting, President Irfaan Ali highlighted that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) States, prior to Hurricane Beryl, collectively reduced their food imports by 12 per cent in the first quarter of 2024.
Notably, Parliament gave the nod in in terms of a $10.8 Billion supplementary sum for this sector which includes $9.5 Billion for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) as the Government continues to strive at revitalizing this industry, almost brought to a halt by the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition. That party had promised to improve the sector but instead did the opposite through the closure of estates between the period 2015-2020.
Meanwhile, the Government sought, and approval was given for a supplementary sum of $2.3 Billion to settle outstanding payments owed to a number of suppliers of goods and services to various Government agencies for several years.
Then, under the Ministry of Public Works, a sum of $1.6 Billion in supplementary funding was approved for Sea and River Defence works, $297.4 Million for the support of operations of the Transport and Harbours Department, $159.2 Million towards completion of the Bartica Stelling and $680.5 Million to pave the way for crucial upgrades to Ferry Vessels.
Further, another sum of $904.8 Million for the construction and rehabilitation of hinterland roads and $600 Million for the completion of infrastructure for the critical supply of water to hinterland communities were also approved by the National Assembly. These fall under Government’s continued efforts to ensure improvement of connectivity throughout Guyana.
