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National Assembly clears $456M in Contingency Fund advances
Kaieteur News- The National Assembly on Wednesday approved Contingency Fund advances for current expenditure, totaling $456,851,845 for several ministries.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) reported that financial paper, No.3 of 2024, was laid on Monday by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh and covers the period November 7, 2024 to November 22, 2024.
The sum of $84, 449, 631 was sought and approved to provide additional resources for the operations of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-INVEST), and the Protected Areas Commission.
Additionally, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira appeared in the Committee of Supply to defend the allocations.
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Sonia Parag and team under examination in the House
She explained that GO-INVEST had incurred additional expenses for the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo, as well as the Agri-Fest, both of which were catered for in the 2024 Budget.
However, the Caribbean Investment Forum and government’s support for the activity was not budgeted for, therefore requiring an advance on the contingency fund.
“It was an important new intervention by GOINVEST to attract more investment to Guyana and they used [money] which was not budgeted for in the 2024 Budget,” Minister Teixeira explained.
For the Protected Areas Commission, these funds provide for the implementation of additional monitoring units in newly established stations.
“For the new forest stations for example that were established, we have had to now look at deploying new monitoring groups in relation to the giant river otter, river turtle, and in the Rupununi. So, they have had more rangers in this year,” she said.
Current estimates were also sought and approved for the provision of increased security charges for primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions, as well as for increased security services for education and health facilities in Regions One and Six.
Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand and Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Sonia Parag also defended respective allocations under their purview in the Committee of Supply.
Late last evening, the House was still debating Financial Paper Number Three for over $84B.
(National Assembly clears $456M in Contingency Fund advances)
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