-early presentation, efficient execution
ON Monday, November 28th Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan will present his third budget in 18 months. It will follow Budget 2015 which was a four-month budget, covering September to December for that year and the 2016 budget. Thus far Minister Jordan has presented to the National Assembly budgets totaling $551BILLION ($221B in 2015 + $230B in 2016).
The themes for both the 2015 and the 2016 budget presentations focused on setting the foundation for the attainment of the good life for Guyanese. On August 10th, 2015, Minister Jordan laid out the government’s economic vision in a presentation themed ‘A fresh approach to the good life in a green economy’ and followed this up on January 29th, 2016 with a full 12-month economic forecast, which he titled ‘Restoring growth, stimulating confidence: the good life beckons”.
The themes are indicative of an approach of strategic economic planning geared towards achieving the Coalition Government’s manifesto commitment of a good life for all Guyanese.
VISION 2020
In his maiden presentation Minister Jordan, presented the ‘Vision 2020’ plan which, he outlined, “Is a reflection of our Government’s confidence in our people to function with a One Nation mindset and build this great land of ours to the benefit of all of us. It envisions sustainable socio-economic development, good governance and human safety within a green economy.”
He then followed up five months later by anchoring Budget 2016 in five pillars – National Unity, National Infrastructure, National Institutions, National Security and Public Services. Described by the Stabroek News as having “an ambitious public infrastructure programme as the centerpiece,” Budget 2016 indeed focused heavily on national infrastructure, the second of the five stated pillars.
AGRICULTURAL SECTOR
It however committed $20.3BILLION to the agricultural sector, which the minister earnestly spoke to at length. “Guyana’s vision for agriculture by 2020 is to promote the sector as a wealth generator and entrepreneurial enterprise, producing food and non-food commodities to meet the needs of the country and our regional and international partners,” Jordan summarised.
The Finance Minister noted that national and regional food security mandated that the Guyanese agricultural sector diversify into non-traditional crops and that new agricultural lands in non-flood prone areas be opened up. “The promotion of non-traditional agriculture, aquaculture, and food processing, alongside the commodities that have traditionally dominated our agricultural landscape, must bear fruit in coming years. The Government, therefore, remains committed to the promotion of agricultural diversification initiatives, while also restoring the competitiveness of the traditional agricultural sectors.”
It would not be unreasonable therefore for the Guyanese public to expect, in the budget presentation for the coming year that the Minister will further advance the Coalition Government’s vision for the agricultural sector even as the sugar industry, a historical foreign earning heavyweight continues to present a burden to the national coffers which had seen increases in revenue collection.
Minister Jordan reported in January of this year that for 2015, tax revenue totaled $142.9BILLION, an increase of some 5.2% over 2014. This, he explained, was principally driven by personal income taxes collected which rose by 11.1% while noting that there was a “low (level) of compliance by self-employed individuals (which) continued to be the main factor why this category lags behind other areas of income tax collection.”
The movement of the personal income tax threshold to $55,000 per month is widely known and heralded as was the minister’s piloting of the movement of the minimum wage from $39,540 in May 2015 to $55,000 where it currently stands. Equally commended were measures to increase the electricity rebates and lowering of fuel prices. These gave considerable economic relief to the working class.
BOLD MEASURES
Overall the Minister demonstrated no aversion to bold and progressive measures. Minister Jordan underpinned his thinking in this regard with a quote from Jesse Owens, the trailblazing American athlete who said, “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” The Minister’s determination shone through in measures, such as the ones addressing the importation of used tyres and vehicles into Guyana. It took guts to present these measures which, though initially somewhat controversial, have been vindicated with a mountain of substantiating evidence relating to improved safety and better long term investments in newer vehicles and tyres versus older, less efficient ones.
EDUCATION INITIATIVES
Both budgets 2015 and 2016 heavily favoured education initiatives in an effort to strengthen the education system to allow our young people to benefit from a high quality of nursery, primary, secondary and subsidised tertiary education. This investment in our people and more specifically, the future of our young people is captured in another quote which Minister Jordan alluded to in 2015.
It was from the turn of the 20th Century American sociologist, historian and civil rights activist W.E.B Du Bois, “now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.”
Two Mondays from today, Minister Jordan will plant the third plank of the Coalition Government’s economic vision for Guyana as we continue to advance steadily towards the good life for all Guyanese in this season of preparation and foundation building. An early start, with a presentation in November, well before the Christmas holidays will certainly allow for a more efficient execution starting January 2017.
