Budget 2022: Major focus on infrastructure, tax reductions, welfare of Guyanese – Dr. Jagdeo

Infrastructure, tax reductions and the overall welfare of Guyanese will take a huge portion of Budget 2022, which is set to be read in the National Assembly on Wednesday, January 26.

This was disclosed by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo during an interview with the National Communications Network (NCN) on Friday. The Vice President said the framework of the budget mirrors the commitment made in the PPP/C’s manifesto to provide a better life for all Guyanese.

In the area of infrastructure, Dr. Jagdeo said the budget will focus on the future growth of the country.

“New highways, roads, investing on power grids, on ICT, the same things that make our businesses more competitive so we can generate more jobs and more diverse jobs in agriculture, in ICT and other areas, not just oil and gas,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

The national fiscal plan, he said will also focus heavily on creating a business-friendly environment and ensuring there is job creation for all of Guyana’s peoples.

He said the recently passed Local Content Law will be enforced so that Guyanese will be able to benefit from jobs.

He said this will be done by way of “tax reductions, making the business process easier for people and of course implementing the Local Content Law, which will bring big benefits to Guyanese. You see some countries now trying to muscle in on our opportunities, we are not going to allow that to happen.”

Major focus will also be placed on welfare enhancing areas, including education and health care. In addition, government will be working with Guyanese to find ways to alleviate the rising cost of living.

“On cost of living, we will have to work with communities during the course of the year to see how we can mitigate some of it,” the Vice President stated.

He said those are some of the factors that influenced the crafting of the budget which will be more detailed when it is presented to the country.

The national budget will be presented by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.