Sums cut from 2012 Budget were restored in accordance with the law – Finance Minister

Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh today reported to the National Assembly, in writing, that where sums approved by the National Assembly under the Appropriation Act 2012 were found to be inadequate to meet the services of Government, supplementary financing was resorted to in accordance with the law.

Minister Singh was responding to questions posed by A Partnership for National Unity’s MP Carl Greenidge who questioned the Minister on whether the ruling by the Chief Justice suggests that either the Chief Justice or the Ministry of Finance could restore cuts to the budget or that the Chief Justice could authorise the Ministry of Finance to make advances from the Consolidated Fund.

Minister Singh stated that the categories and sums involved have already been reported to the National Assembly in successive Financial Papers, and the legal basis for the payments resided in the Constitution of Guyana and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2003.

He added also that the appropriateness of the course of action adopted by Government was confirmed in advance by the Attorney General of Guyana and approved by Cabinet.

Minister Singh also pointed out that during his ruling when the Chief Justice pointed out that the cuts to the National Budget were unconstitutional, the CJ had made several relevant references to the Constitution.

The 2012 National Budget was in April, 2012 passed in the National Assembly after the combined opposition used their one-seat majority to cut over $20B off the estimates. The initial $192.8B presented to the house on March 30, was slashed to $172B, plunging several programmes into doubt including the internationally acclaimed Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

The motion carried by the APNU was supported by the Alliance For Change with CANU being reduced from $20M to $1.00, State Planning Secretariat from $105M, to $1.00 and the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) from $99.49M to $1.00. Over $2B was cut from the Offices of the President and Prime Minister. Other agencies also affected by the cuts include the State agencies National Communications Network (NCN) and Government information Agency (GINA) whose allocations were also reduced to $1.00 each.