MINISTER of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh on March 24 presented the largest budget in the history of the country to the National Assembly, valued at $220B Budget and themed ‘By Guyanese A Better Guyana for All Guyanese.’

Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ronald Webster, was forced to provide comments to the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the Budget is very positive and the concepts are sound.

Webster however, said that one of his concerns with the budget is the continued subsidy on energy. “I would have preferred to see those subsidies being reduced over time and the money being invested in subsidies being put into old age pension schemes, possibly a restructuring of National Insurance Scheme (NIS) because from a private sector standpoint I think that would provide opportunities for investment in the energy sector, once it is operating on a level playing field,” he said.
“But there must be leadership,” he also added. He said that leadership, essentially in municipalities will be essential with regards to clean up of Georgetown and other municipalities. Webster said that the country’s clean-up initiative is critical from a commercial standpoint and a moral position for the country, “but somebody, some group has got to run with it and make sure it happens.”

After nearly a quarter of a century in power, Guyana has no leadership coming from the PPP. The private sector has noticed that long time.