Finance Minister unveils Budget 2018 today

Nov 27, 2017 News

By: Kiana Wilburg

After months of planning, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan is set to present Budget 2018 in the National Assembly today.
The occasion would mark yet another instance where the coalition administration has brought a budget before the start of the fiscal year. According to Minister Jordan, this is a feature that is expected to characterize the Government’s commitment to fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability.
The presentation of budget 2018 today is also in keeping with Jordan’s determination to change the manner in which national budgets are presented. He even revealed that early budgets will become the new tradition.
Jordan recalled that the 2016 and 2017, budgets were presented fairly early, and noted that this was not done in recent memory.
“And I can tell you that it is already having benefits on the citizens, on the stakeholders and the economy. Under my watch, I promise you that this will be a tradition as opposed to a one-off event.”
The Member of Parliament said that no budget can be said to be proper if it does not start before the new fiscal year.
“And I think that this has been a grave error of ours over the last three decades with all these late budgets. I know people will run and say that the Constitution gives us up to March, but I rather suspect that we have overused that,” expressed the Finance Minister.
Jordan had said that he does not believe that such an approach to national budget is used in other parts of the world.
He had said, “I don’t think there is anywhere in the world where you can expect something like that or see the budget being presented as late as three months into the new fiscal year.”
The politician said that the new regime is hoping that it can bring some sanity back to the budget process and when it is presented.
Additionally, the Finance Minister was tightlipped all year about some of the fiscal goodies that would be included in the budget. He did note however that there would be no new taxes for next year. Since coming to office, the coalition administration has implemented close to 200 tax measures.

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

Furthermore, the Finance Minister and his budget planning team held meetings with several stakeholders across Guyana regarding their recommendations on what budget 2018 should have.
One such stakeholder was the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI). The Chamber made a number of suggestions to the Finance Minister.
The Chamber noted that Guyana’s uneven growth has led to some concern. As it relates to the forestry subsector, this continued to show a decline in 2017 as output contracted by 18.2 percent during the first half of the year following the 13.1 percent decline at the end of June 2016.
The Chamber noted that it received many complaints that the 2017 budget measure to increase the tax burden on the stakeholders in this sector has had a negative impact. As such, it recommended that there be a review and a subsequent removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on finished goods in this sector.
The Chamber also voiced its concerns regarding Government’s plans to cut back on large scale sugar production through the closure of four estates. GCCI believes that the Government would be wise to have a transitionary period to allow for private investors to acquire the four estates. The body said that this would allow for a smooth continuation of operations and reduction in job and other economic losses.
Along with its call for the removal of VAT on private tuition, the Chamber also called for the government to produce a Plan Of Action. It believes that such a document is necessary since confidence in the economy is waning.
With regard to the oil and gas sector, the Chamber said that Guyana has a proven history of successes and failures due to the transformative nature of oil revenues. As such, it suggested that an allocation in the budget be made for the best experts in the field to provide policy, legislation, and regulations on the sector especially as it relates to the Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Expenditure of oil revenues.