Govt. spends $53B more than budget approved for this year

Dec 14, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The total budgetary allocation for fiscal year 2021 was approved in March last for a total of some $383.1B, but government has already spent more than US$52B that was represented in Financial Papers submitted to the House for approval.

Senior Minister within Office of the President, Dr. Ashni Singh

A total of four Financial Papers have been submitted to the House by Senior Minister within the Office of the President, Dr. Ashni Singh—the last two for almost $26B presented to the National Assembly during yesterday’s sitting.
The Financial Papers represent government’s accounting for funds issued from the Contingency Fund for the year.
The first such paper was presented to the House by Dr. Singh in June last, after which two more were submitted yesterday.
Financial Paper 1, represented an accounting of $1,906,775,000 million, expended from the Contingency Fund for Capital and Current Expenditure.
Financial Paper 2, for the sum of $21, 360, 385, 051 million was addressed earlier in the year—also submitted in June last.
Asking for the Papers to be debated in the House this Thursday, Dr. Singh yesterday submitted Financial Papers Three and Four, for $5,112,355,210 and $21,477,833, 982 million respectively.
As such, it would mean that the government has already expended some $53B more than the $383.1B allocation for this year.
A perusal of Financial Paper 3 submitted by Dr. Singh illustrates spending for the Office of the President, and Ministries of Agriculture, Education, Health, Home Affairs and Local Government.
According to the Finance Minister, that money was used to provide for operational expenses to the Lands and Survey Commission, and security expenses across the regions, in addition to cash grants for students among other allocations.
As it relates to Financial Paper 4, accounting for some $21,477,833 982 million, it was noted that allocations were made to the Office of the Prime Minister to cater for loans contracted from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Additionally, it was noted that some $4B would have been provided to the Guyana Power and Light Company, as a “provision for clearance of arrears” to the utility.
Further, funds were earmarked as being for the reconstruction of bridges at Issano and Bamia, and sea defence works.
The Cheddi Jagan International Airport was also earmarked some $420M for a baggage handling system.
In addition to accounting for more loans and line(s) of credit, the Financial Paper presented to the House by Dr. Singh also seeks to account for payment of stipends, in addition to a number of COVID-19 pandemic relief measures.
Finally, there were provisions for more fire hydrants in housing schemes, school upgrades and the accounting of loans contracted by government, such as a $56.8M provision for the law reform commission.
Members of the House are expected to flesh out the details of the expenditure ahead of a vote, when the National Assembly meets next Thursday.