2012 Budget Debate…Guyana’s debt higher than 1992 – Moses Nagamootoo
Guyana is more indebted than it was 20 years ago.
At least that is what Moses Nagamootoo, the Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian, expressed
Moses Nagamootoo
in his presentation during the Parliamentary debate on the $192.8B National Budget on Tuesday.
In a fiery presentation, Nagamootoo insisted that Guyana’s debt is now about a $1B more than it was in 1992.
In that year, when there was a change of government to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), the debt stood at US$2.1B.
“In pure Guyana dollars terms, without looking at percentage of GDP or other factors, at the then prevailing rate of G$125 to US$1, the 1992 debt was $252,500,000,000. Today, 20 years later, and in spite of write-offs, cancellation and rescheduling, our national debt stands at US$1.2 B which, at the current buying rate of G$207 to US$1, amounts to G$253,400,000,000 – nearly $1B more over 1992,” he told the National Assembly.
Nagamootoo, a former senior executive of the PPP who moved over to the AFC shortly before the November 28th General and Regional Elections, said that no amount of statistical juggling would hide the reality that in fiscal terms, Guyana is like a dog chasing its own tail.
“We are once again in the middle of the vicious debt circle.
