Concerns raised over Govt’s $57.5B supplementary budget three months before elections

May 27, 2025 News

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By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News- With elections a mere three months away, Guyanese have raised concerns over the recent approval of an additional $57.5B for government spending, a mere 106 days after the passage of Budget 2025.

Highlighting concerns in this regard were Shadow Finance Minister, Juretha Fernandes, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes, former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan and Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram.

For his part, Ram explained that the appropriation of an additional $57.5 billion in supplementary funding two days before the announcement of the September 1 elections and the dissolution of Parliament raises questions regarding the quality and thoroughness of the budget process, fiscal responsibility, and election spending.

The Chartered Accountant pointed out that this year’s budget was approved to the tune of $1.382 trillion, with an unprecedented sum now added during an election period. The appropriation includes approximately $46.5 billion for capital expenditure and $12 billion for recurrent expenditure.

Ram reasoned, “Less than five months after receiving $132.5 B in the 2025 Capital Budget, Housing and Water has been allocated additional funding. Since 2020, Housing has been the principal agency for infrastructural works financed by the Consolidated Fund. The President’s Silica City project is financed from Housing with limited public transparency or reporting, which continues patterns of concern regarding this ministry’s accountability mechanisms over the past decade.”

Further, he noted that the Office of the Prime Minister was allocated more resources for cash grants with no reporting on the two previous tranches of $30 billion each. Moreover, Ram told this newspaper that with an additional $30B more for power generation and the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project, rising costs are likely to affect its viability as an economic investment. Ram concluded, “With only eight months of tax collections available to finance this expenditure, the increased deficit requires funding through increased borrowings or drawdown from the Natural Resource Fund. If the PPP/C loses the elections, the problem will fall into the lap of its successor. If it wins, it will have five years to manage the fiscal consequences of its extravagance.”

Electioneering and the PPP

Meanwhile, the AFC’s Juretha Fernandes sees the passage of the supplementary budget as “electioneering”. In fact, she urged Guyanese to remain vigilant of the government’s expenditure over the next months. The Shadow Finance Minister argued that the supplementary budget, three months after approving a National Budget is an admission on the part of the administration that it has failed to effectively manage the economy.

More alarmingly, according to the Member of Parliament (MP) is the fact that the government has not yet expended the monies approved under the programmes it sought additional funding for. Coupled with the fact that elections are now set for September 1, Fernandes said, “You understand the players and what they are trying to do. Basically, fill their pockets with money, particularly for electioneering and that is what we have been trying to alert persons to for the longest while and believe it or not, I will not be surprised if they try to get even more money because that’s how they have been operating.”

Fernandes pointed to the cash grant allocation and infrastructure budgets as key examples. She argued that $9B was allocated for Hinterland Roads under the Ministry of Public Works, however government requested an additional $1.5B for an expanded work programme.

The Shadow Finance Minister was keen to point out that the $9B provision approved in this year’s Budget is nowhere close to being expended, yet the administration is seeking more funds to finance its “electioneering”.

Fernandes is of the firm view that the recently allocated sum will not be used to finance projects that can be completed before the year but this would be used as a cosmetic approach to woo voters. “They have these election promises but will these roads be done between now and elections? No they will not but they want to tell people oh we budgeted for this.”

The Member of Parliament reminded that her colleagues during the debate on the supplementary budget raised an alarm over the fact that more money is being sought even though the budgeted amount is still to be exhausted.

Meanwhile, on the $100,000 cash grant for Guyanese 18 years and older, Fernandes said the National Assembly was informed by Prime Minister Brigadier Ret’d Mark Phillips that 12,100 more citizens are expected to register. He was however unable to say what regions these persons are likely to register in. “When questioned on where you are getting this 12,100 figure from he basically could not answer so its like they are pulling this figure out of the sky,” she argued.

To this end, the MP urged, “We as a people, the Opposition and citizens at large needs to be very vigilant at this time on how government is expending resources and the quality of work they are delivering in our communities.”

Failure to meet threshold

AFC Leader Nigel Hughes contended that a supplementary budget, three months after the national budget is a glaring indication of government’s inability to manage the economy. Like Fernandes, the Leader of the AFC also believes in the possibility of another supplementary budget prior to this year’s election in September is likely.

According to him, “They want to continue to plunder the national resources for their private benefit.” Moreover, Hughes was keen to point out that the funds sought by government and approved in the National Assembly, by way of its one-seat majority does not meet the required threshold. He reminded that the additional resources should be budgeted for urgent and unforeseen expenses. “That is the requirement and they have not satisfied that threshold.”

Breach of FMAA

Flagging a breach of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA) was former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.  During a public broadcast on social media, he said, “According to Section 24 (4) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2003 the minister when introducing a supplementary appropriation bill, as the one that was just introduced, shall present to the National Assembly the reason for the proposed variation and provide a supplementary document describing the impact that the variations, if approved will have on the financial plan outlined in the annual budget.”  Jordan pointed out that there has been no such document presented to the House by the government in its request for supplementary.

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• budget, CONCERNS, Elections, Juretha, supplementary

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