The Budget is cheap talk

Jan 28, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

Kaieteur News – In his Budget speech, the Minister of Finance regurgitated what has been said previously by PPP/C governments. He spoke about a vision of Guyana where government would satisfy a minimum threshold of basic needs for citizens.

But the catch is that he does not want this threshold to be viewed through the narrow and simplistic lens of monetary and fixed income. In other words, the basic needs threshold should not be viewed simply in financial terms but through things such as access to housing, nutritious, healthcare, education, water and sanitation and recreational facilities.

This is essentially a vision of a basic needs approach to human development. This perspective emphasizes the fulfillment of essential requirements for all individuals to lead a dignified and fulfilling life. Developed by economists like Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, the basic needs approach posits that human development should be measured not just by economic growth but by the extent to which people’s basic needs are met.

At its core, the basic needs approach identifies several fundamental requirements necessary for human well-being, including access to adequate food, clean water, shelter, healthcare, education, and security. These needs are seen as universal and essential for individuals to live healthy, productive lives and participate fully in society. The approach recognizes that without meeting these basic needs, individuals cannot fully realize their potential or contribute effectively to their communities.

The chatter about a minimum threshold of benefits is cheap talk. Unless there is an assessment as to what are the precise minimum thresholds to be met and where the country stands in relation to these targets, it is all rhetorical.

One of the major challenges of adopting a basic needs approach to human development concerns this very issue of measurement. Measuring progress in meeting basic needs can be challenging, as it requires reliable data and indicators that accurately capture the complex realities of human well-being. Such data does not exist in Guyana.  But unless the government had set and outlined certain targets, then this minimum threshold of benefits is just cheap talk.

One of the criticisms of the basic needs approach to development is precisely the fact that it makes no accommodation for a universal basic income. The basic needs approach focuses on ensuring that all individuals have access to essential goods and services like food, shelter, healthcare, education, and security. Universal basic income, on the other hand, proposes providing all citizens with regular, unconditional cash payments, regardless of their employment status or income level. While both concepts share the goal of addressing poverty and promoting human well-being, they operate through different mechanisms. The basic needs approach typically involves targeted interventions to provide specific goods and services directly to those in need, aiming to ensure basic standards of living. In contrast, universal basic income offers a more generalized form of support, providing individuals with financial resources that they can use according to their own priorities and preferences.

There is considerable pressure being exerted on the PPP/C government to at least provide a universal basic income to every household. But the government is resisting this, not the least of which is on the grounds that the monies are simply not there to provide any meaningful universal basic income.

But even if a universal basic income is precluded from a basic needs approach to human development, there is no reason why the government cannot increase the minimum wage and eventually allow for its convergence with a living wage. This would hardly be in contradiction to a basic needs approach to human development.

The PPP/C government must end the cheap talk. It must set specific targets to meet the minimum threshold it promises. Its failure to do so exemplifies the disconnect between the chatter in the Budget and the policies enunciated within.

If the government is keen on ensuring a minimum level of water and sanitation services will be provided to citizens, then it has to state what the standard to be expected is. The majority of the people do not enjoy treated water. The high iron content is discoloring people’s bathrooms and toilets. Then there is the issue of water pressure. In many areas, the water pressure is low and water is only supplied for certain hours during the day. The government needs to set the minimum threshold of the service it desires and it needs to help the poor by providing them with receptacles such as water tanks to store water for usage.

What mechanism does the government have in place to ensure that only the deserving gets house lots? Is there a national housing and property ownership register that the government can refer to ensure that the rich do not hijack the process of house lot allocation? Years ago, an engineer attached to the government obtained house lot for each of his children. Recently, it was revealed that one woman had obtained three house lots. There are many people who cannot obtain house lots.

You just have to look at some of the mansions going up in government schemes to realise that the wrong persons are receiving house lots. It is also a direct contradiction to the basic needs approach to housing, when the government is building Silica City – which will become an enclave for the bourgeois class.

It is easy to speak about the vision of providing a minimum threshold of services. But without establishing these thresholds, the Budget becomes hollow chatter.

NB: There was an error in Friday’s’ column. It was mentioned that when the PPP/C came in 1992 it claimed that every child born would have had a debt of US$ 300,000. This figure should have been denominated in Guyana dollars.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

---

• Amartya Sen, budget, governments, Mahbub ul Haq, Minister of Finance, PPP/C

---