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AFC wants more time to scrutinize 2024 Budget
Kaieteur News – Ahead of tomorrow’s presentation of Budget 2024, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has pointed to the need for additional time to scrutinize what is likely to be the country’s first trillion-dollar fiscal plan.
Shadow Finance Minister, Juretha Fernandes
Shadow Minister of Finance, Juretha Fernandes during a party press conference on Friday told members of the media that the Opposition expects additional time to be granted.
She reasoned, “With more money being budgeted for expenditure, the opposition expects to be given more time in the consideration of the estimates, as it is unreasonable to expect any real scrutiny of a budget over one trillion dollars to be done within the same time frame that was used to scrutinize $200 billion budgets.”
In a subsequent telephone interview with this publication, the Shadow Finance Minister said she believes at least two and a half hours per agency is necessary. She pointed out that previously, each agency was allotted one hour, however that has been changed to 10 minutes (see table attached).
Fernandes argued, “They only give 10 minutes for each constitutional agency, each of those should be at the very least 30 minutes. No real scrutiny can be done in 10 minutes.”
During the press conference, Fernandes highlighted that the enthusiasm Guyanese had for the first oil budget has deflated over the years as the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration continue to present budget after budget with no real tangible benefits for the ordinary citizen.
She noted that Guyanese still have basic expectations from the government for budget 2024. Included in the 13-point list of expectations shared by her were free education from Nursery to University; increase in the income tax threshold to $150,000; increase in the minimum wage by 50%, and associated adjustment along the public and private sector.
Schedule of the consideration of estimates for Budget 2024 shows that only 10 minutes have been allocated for each agency
She also said there should be a reduction in vat; increase in old age pension to $70, 000; higher resources for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM); investment in provision of Public Transportation; removal of cost of residential house lots and monetary provisions for first time home builders.
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