No date set for Budget 2021 presentation – Dr. Singh

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Hon. Dr Ashni Singh, says the Government is still to set a date for the presentation of Budget 2021.

Dr. Singh’s statement in a DPI interview follows a newspaper article published today, which reported that the Budget would be presented on February 5.

He said while the Government aims to be prepared for the presentation by February 5, 2021, “The actual specific date for the presentation of the 2021 budget is yet to be finally determined.”

The Minister added: “I suspect that the speculation about the 5th February is probably derived from the budget circular which you know, which many of your viewers know, we issued just about two weeks ago or so.”

Dr. Singh says the Government intends to present the Budget in February 2021.

“The actual determination of which date precisely we are going to be tabling the Budget, that decision is going to be made much closer to the time. It is a fact we are targeting early February, so I don’t think it is wildly different from what the actual date is going to be.”

Meanwhile, Dr Singh highlighted that Guyanese will benefit tremendously from Budget 2021.

“The Budget will outline the medium and long-term vision for the country; vision of our Government, in the long-term, for the country and then the Budget will initiate a lot of these programmes and policies and projects. A lot of the big projects that we have been speaking about, you will see them being initiated in Budget 2021, setting the stage for the realisation of the medium-term vision that we have for the country.”

Budget 2021 will be the first full-year budget presented by the PPP/C government after acceding to office in August 2020.

On September 9, the Government presented an Emergency Budget in the National Assembly. That Budget provided funds for four months and also covered the spending of the former APNU-AFC Government.

The Emergency Budget removed many added fees and taxes citizens had been shouldering for the past five years.