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‘Brace for year-end spending spree by Govt.’
…Opposition says as it flags sloth in budget spending
Kaieteur News – This year, the PPP Government tapped the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) for the first time, increasing the country’s annual Budget from $383.1 billion in 2021 to a whopping $552.9 billion in 2022.
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton
The increase represents a total of $169.8 billion, a “vast increase” which the APNU + AFC Opposition believes Government is not equipped to manage. In fact, the joint Opposition argued during its most recent Press Conference that the PPP’s inability to execute the budget is evident in the half-year report which clearly indicates poor economic planning.
Economic and Youth Policy Adviser to the Leader of the Opposition, Elson Low explained, “We must note that what the Government did with this year’s budget is to vastly expand the national budget immediately. They didn’t have a gradual expansion and as a result the economy has not been given the opportunity to gradually expand its capacity. So what happened is that all of a sudden you’ve got Government spending nearly 50 percent more than the previous year. Obviously that is going to present various problems in order for you to implement all of your spending programmes- that is what is playing out and it is something that I think is not surprising.”
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton weighing in on the issue said that while the Government prides itself in producing “the largest budget ever” each year, it does so while being fully aware that the public service lacks the institutional capacity to deliver on this programme.
He recalled that when the Coalition was in Government, former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, instituted programmes to develop the efficiency and capability of the public service. However, with this key ingredient being absent today, Norton said the product is an inability to implement the projects.
Moreover, he pointed out, “One has to recognise that Government is very much focused on corruption and one of the things that will allow for corruption is these large budgetary allocations and once you don’t have the institutional capacity, coming down to the end of the year, you will just hear about projects and money being collected and money being spent. And then, after that the money disappears, the projects aren’t either online or completed and so one has to see it also as a mechanism to create a slush fund for Government corruption.”
To this end, Norton again pointed to the need for an independent probe into the allegations of bribery and corruption leveled against the PPP General Secretary and Vice President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo. According to Norton, “With the allegations against him, and no system of accountability then you understand that they would have created the conditions to pillage Guyana economy and I think one of the key things in the large budget is creating the avenues for corruption.”
First-half spending
The Ministry of Finance in its half-year report confirmed that a number of the major Ministries were unable to use up half of the monies allocated in this year’s budget. For instance the Ministry of Public Works was allocated $49.2 billion for roads but only spent $12.3 billion. Similarly, the Ministry received $27.6 billion for bridges but only spent $1.8 billion. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health was given $73.2 billion but in the first six months it had only spent $26.5 billion.
Another major Government Ministry, Ministry of Home Affairs, was allocated $47.9 billion and only used $20.4 billion during the first six months. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education was allocated $74.4 billion in this year’s Budget and by half-year it had already spent $32.2 billion. The Ministry of Housing and Water also managed to utilize $8.1 billion of the $12.4 billion it received. In the first half of 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture expended $15.8 billion of the $32.6 billion of its budget.
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