Latest update December 4th, 2024 2:40 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

Govt. spent US$350M locally in first half of 2014

Aug 11, 2014 News

 

The Government of Guyana has spent for the first half of the year, a total of $70B of which $19B was subsidies and transfers to various agencies.
This information was released over the weekend when Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, presented the annual midyear financial report
According to the information provided, non-interest current expenditure totalled some $54B, which is an increase of 28.7 percent over the corresponding period in 2013.
He noted that personal emoluments increased by 11.3 percent to $19.7B, reflecting the across the board five percent increase for 2013 granted to Public Servants and members of the Disciplined Services in December 2013, the five percent granted to Teachers for 2014 in line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and the Guyana Teachers Union, and the cost of new recruits added to the government sector.
Other goods and services amounted to $15.2B, representing a 50.8 percent increase as a result of improved timeliness in programme execution, according to Dr Singh.
He noted too that transfer payments totalled $19B, 34.9 percent above the 2013 level, primarily on account of the subsidy to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO.”
According to Dr Singh, capital expenditure amounted to $14.6B compared to $10.9B a year ago, on account of higher disbursements on the locally financed Public Sector Investment Programme due largely to progress on ongoing projects.
As it relates to what the country owes in debt, Dr Singh reported that at end June 2014, Guyana’s total external public debt stood at US$1.23B, which was 1.6 per cent lower than at the end of 2013.
The decline in the debt stock follows the conclusion of a fourth Debt Compensation Agreement with Venezuela and the Wind-up Agreement of the Caricom Multilateral Clearing Facility (CMCF), in the first quarter of 2014.
Under the Debt Compensation Agreement with Venezuela, the debt owed to that country was reduced by US$55.5M, corresponding to the value of rice and paddy shipped under the Guyana-Venezuela Rice Trade Agreement from October 2013 to February 2014.
Under the CMCF Wind-up Agreement, Guyana secured additional enhanced Heavily Indebted poor Country (HIPC) debt relief through the cancellation of the US$35.9M debt that was outstanding.
He noted too that in addition principal repayments to external creditors increased by 10.8 percent to US$16.9M as at June.
Actual external debt service payments totalled US$24.8M which was 12.6 percent greater than the US$22M on as at June 2013.
According to Dr. Singh, the increased total debt service payments for the first half of 2014 is mainly the result of higher principal and interest payments to multilateral creditors.
The Finance Minister stated that at the end of June 2014, Guyana’s domestic debt stock stood at US$422.7M, which was 11.8 percent below the end 2013 position.
Dr. Singh also mentioned that the decline was primarily due to a reduction in Treasury Bill issuance by the Bank of Guyana.
As at June 2014, actual domestic debt service payments totalled US$3Mn, a significant reduction by 67.1 percent compared with the US$9.2M made during the first half of 2013.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

 

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

UDFA Year-End Futsal Tournament kicks off December 15

UDFA Year-End Futsal Tournament kicks off December 15

Dec 04, 2024

-$1M up for grabs in 15-team tournament Kaieteur Sports- The Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) Futsal Year-End Tournament 2024/2025 was officially launched on Monday at the Retrieve Hard...
Read More
Jaker, Taijul and Rana script Bangladesh’s first win in West Indies since 2009

Jaker, Taijul and Rana script Bangladesh’s...

Dec 04, 2024

Trophy Stall and Superbet on board with Kashif and Shanghai Futsal tourney

Trophy Stall and Superbet on board with Kashif...

Dec 04, 2024

Jai Hind Jaguars trounce North Soesdyke Masters to claim O50s title

Jai Hind Jaguars trounce North Soesdyke Masters...

Dec 04, 2024

BMC invites clubs/teams to register for the 2025 BMC O40s Tournament

BMC invites clubs/teams to register for the 2025...

Dec 04, 2024

ASK-G holds successful Karate Grading Examinations

ASK-G holds successful Karate Grading

Dec 04, 2024

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]