‘Budget 2022 sets foundation for the construction of a modern Guyana’ – Attorney General

The process of ascendency from an impoverished nation to a prosperous one is now beginning, says Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Mohabir Anil Nandlall S.C, as he linked such success to Budget 2022.

This is Guyana’s biggest, historic and most transformational budget that has been ever presented. Through Budget 2022, the blueprint for the construction of a modern Guyana is being set, he said.  

“This budget lays the framework and the foundation for that journey of ascent, which would begin really in the year 2022. That is captured in the budget,” the Attorney General said during a Budget in Focus interview last Friday.

Themed, ‘Steadfast against all challenges, resolute in building our One Guyana,’ this year’s budget contains a slew of measures to create wealth for all Guyanese and improve their livelihoods. This follows the $383.1 billion national budget in 2021.

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for finance, Dr Ashni Singh read the national fiscal plan which is centered around the development of people, improving infrastructure, capacity and an enabling environment for the overall growth of Guyana. Furthermore, the budget addresses frontally, concerns and aspects of Guyanese welfare in the most detailed and precise way that a budget can.

“The mere fact that $552 billion is scheduled to be spent from February to December,” the Legal Affairs Minister stated, “is a staggering phenomenon for one to even grasp. There will be an explosion of economic activities by the mere expenditure of this huge and mammoth, unprecedented sum of money. Thousands of jobs immediately are going to be created.”

The Attorney General said that while Budget 2022 embraces mega projects of a transformational nature, and went on to list some of these as roadways and highways, new housing schemes, the Demerara River Bridge, and farm-to-market roads, the financial plan addresses frontally, concerns and aspects of Guyanese welfare in the most detailed way.

“This is a budget that strikes a delicate balance because we recognise that the ordinary man and woman may not be able to connect him or herself with these mega projects, connect their lives with these mega projects,” he relayed.

Budget 2022 at a glance

• $73.2 billion budgeted for the health sector, with $16.1 billion allocated to launch a major expansion in public healthcare facilities;

• $74.4 billion has been budgeted for the education sector. Uniform grants for school children have been increased from $4,000 to $5,000 per child, while the Because We Care Cash Grant has bee increased from $15,000 to $25,000. This comes to a total of each child in the private or public school system receiving $30,000 this year.

• $49.2 billion has been allocated for roads; $27.5 billion for bridges; $2 billion for air transport; $2.1 billion for the construction of a new ocean-going passenger and cargo vessel which will play the North West District route;

• $29.8 billion for the energy sector;

• $300 million for small business support;

• $1.3 billion to support the rapid development of the ICT sector;

• $13 billion to upgrade draining and irrigation systems;

• $743.7 million for the development of fisheries and aquaculture; $977.3 million for livestock development; $96.5 million to equip agro-processing facilities at Sophia, Parika and Mabaruma;

As part of measures, the government has initiated a slew of tax removal measures to further enhance the ease of doing business and cushion the increased cost of living as consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the hinderances in the global supply chain.

Some of these measures include:

• Removal of 10% excise tax and 14% VAT on new motor trucks for transport of goods;

• Removal of 14% VAT on the importation of new haulers for pulling containers/ similar vehicles;

• Removal of 10% excise tax on the importation of double cab pickups below 2000 cc;

• Reducing the excise tax for new double cab pickups between 2000 and 3000 cc from 110% to 75%;

• Removal of 10% excise tax on the importation of new single cab pickups below 3000 cc.

• Government will extend the application of the freight cost adjustment for the calculation of import taxes, rolling back freight costs to pre-pandemic levels;

• Government will be lowering the excise rate tax further on gasoline and diesel rom 20% to 10% with immediate effect;

• Government will introduce a Dialysis Support Programme which it will finance up to $600,000 per annum worth of dialysis treatment for each and every dialysis patient in Guyana;

• Increased the monthly Public Assistance payment from $12,000 to $14,000;

• Increased the Old Age Pension further from $25,000 to $28,000;

• Further increased the ceiling on low-income loans that may be obtained through commercial bank from $12 million to $15 million;

• Reverted the pre-2015 entitlements of Guyana’s remigrating diaspora in relation to the importation of a vehicle when they return;

• $100 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.