Consultations for the 2014 budget is ongoing between various stakeholders and the Ministry of Finance. This is according to General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee.

However, while this is the case, there have been no consultations with the main opposition party – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

The APNU at its last press conference noted that the Party has not been invited to any consultations by Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh. When asked about this, Rohee said that he cannot say definitively if the APNU was invited to these consultations.

The APNU has also threatened to slash the budget. When questioned, Rohee said, “We will never have a budget to the satisfaction of the opposition. The budget usually by convention is a responsibility of the government of the day. The Court is likely to rule soon on budget cuts and from a judicial, legal standpoint, I would say let us hold our breath until the ruling is made on this subject and that would provide guidance to all the parties in the future.”

APNU Leader, David Granger recently noted that if there is no change within the agencies of the National Communications Network (NCN) and the Government Information Agency (GINA), then the Party will slash their budget allocations again.

excerpts from Inews