Yes Messanger Bhai ashni singh will deliver "De Jagdeo Budget" .....but it has to pass thru the Moses and AFC Filter.

AFC Decides what is approved and what is chopped or thrown out.

All De poke fat and cutters will be thrown out.

HEHEHE KFC Chicken gat NUFF FAT.

HEHEHE KFC Chicken gat NUFF FAT.   

You prefer the fat or the meat, Nehru?

And, yes .. it is budget time. 

The 2013 Budget was today presented by Finance Minister Ashni Singh in Parliament and it was hailed as the biggest in our history and a 'people's' Budget by many commentators.

Several reductions in various taxes were announced as well as various measures aimed at taking care of the old aged and vulnerable in our society. Here are some of the announcements made:

-GDP increased by 4.8% in 2012
-Non Sugar GDP increased by 6%
-Sugar production contracted by 7.8%
-Rice production grew by 5%
-Non traditional crops grew by 5.3%
-Livestock 14.4% increase
-Fisheries 15.5% increase
-Forestry 4.3% decline
-Mining 14.8% growth
-Bauxite 12.5% increase
-Manufacturing output grew 2.2%
-Balance of payments surplus $12.4M US
-Total imports expanded by 11.7%
-FDI increased by 19%
-BANK OF GUYANA RESERVES US. $862.2M....10.% increase
-3.5% Inflation Rate

Numbers looking good.

Yes, would have liked to see better Manufacturing output numbers, but it is what it is.  The rest looks ok. I believe hydro-power will spur future Manu output.

I am surprised FDI increased by 19%, really good.

Linden electricity to be subsidized to the tune of $2.9B in 2013

Old age pension to be increased by 25%

Over 42 000 seniors benefit from $1.3 Billion disposal income

Individual property tax threshold to be reduced as well

Property tax threshold to be reduced

NIS contribution fees to be increased by 1%

P.A.Y.E reduced by 3.3%

Investments in Our People

a.         Education

4.62          Mr. Speaker, this Government recognises education as essential for reducing poverty, supporting personal empowerment, and achieving national development.

4.63          With this in mind, an amount of $26.5 billion was expended in this sector in 2012. Of that amount, $2.9 billion was spent on construction, extension, rehabilitation and maintenance of additional educational facilities countrywide to ensure increased access. In an effort to increase enrolment and attendance rates of children in schools, as well as reduce the drop-out rate, over $1.2 billion was spent on the School Feeding Programme, which benefitted over 64,000 students. Additionally, $296.7 million was spent on the National School Uniform Programme which benefitted over 190,000 children in nursery, primary and secondary schools. Significant gains have been made in increasing the percentage of trained teachers in the public education system. Further, 2,965 teachers were trained in ICT. Amounts totalling $1.3 billion were expended to equip and staff technical and vocational institutions which continue to provide an alternative education pathway for our youths. Another $1.3 billion was allocated to the University of Guyana (UG), of which $450 million represented loans to students.

4.64          Mr. Speaker, $28.7 billion has been budgeted for the education sector in 2013 bringing to a total the amount of $139 billion being allocated over the period 2008 to 2013 to finance the National Education Strategic Plan. The sector is currently engaged in the development of a new 5 year strategic plan.

4.65          This year, the physical infrastructure of schools and other educational facilities countrywide will benefit from an investment of over $3 billion. This includes the construction of Kato Secondary Complex which provides for 350 students, the reconstruction of One Mile Primary, and extensions to Alexander Village Nursery, East Street Nursery, St. Barnabas Special School, Tutorial Academy and Tagore Memorial Secondary, rehabilitation of St. Roses High, and maintenance of other schools and educational facilities countrywide.

4.66          Of the total amount provided, $1.1 billion is budgeted for the School Feeding Programme which will see over 64,000 school children benefitting from either juices and fortified biscuits or a hot meal. In addition, the school uniform programme will continue to reduce the financial burden on families and will see one school uniform distributed to every child attending a school in the public education system from nursery to Grade 11.

4.67          Emphasis will continue to be placed on increasing the presence of trained teachers in the classroom, and some 409 newly trained teachers are expected to enter the education system in August 2013, while another 41 teachers will complete the requirements for certification under the Trained Teacher’s Certificate Programme, a further 68 in-service teachers in Regions 1 and 9 will continue to access the Trained Teacher’s Certificate, while 366 students will continue to access the Associate Degree in Education at the coastal centres and Linden. In an effort to strengthen the management and quality of staff members, lecturers and administrators training will be conducted to ensure use of ICT in the delivery of the curriculum. This will complement the 35 IT labs which are expected to be completed in 2013, while 3,000 teachers will be trained in ICT literacy bringing us closer to the target of having all secondary schools equipped with computers and all secondary teachers trained in the use of computers for education delivery.

4.68          Mr. Speaker, we will continue to invest in the University of Guyana with an allocation of $1.7 billion, including student loans of $450 million. A feasibility study for the new Centre of Excellence for the Study of Bio-Diversity and a management and personnel study of the University’s human resources will commence this year. Moreover, through the US$10 million project to strengthen the School of Earth and Environmental Science, technical assistance and other support to lecturers would be provided to programmes relevant to the LCDS, while grants would be provided to researchers towards generating knowledge products that directly contribute to the LCDS. In support of this, 14 laboratories in the Science and Technology Faculties will be rehabilitated, while full internet connectivity will be provided to all faculties and the library. This project represents a major Government investment in the University and in particular in its science and technology teaching and research capabilities.

4.69          Included in the total amount provided to the University is a sum of $50 million to be provided by Government to UG to promote greater access to tertiary level education by establishing online programmes.

b.         Health

4.70          Mr. Speaker, Government remains committed to ensuring that our citizens have access to high quality health care services. To this end, over $17 billion was expended in 2012, the final year of the National Health Strategic Plan 2008-2012.

4.71          A total of $1 billion was spent to expand, upgrade and maintain the infrastructural facilities of the sector, including to fund a mobilisation payment for the state-of-the-art specialty surgical hospital at Liliendaal which will afford Guyanese the opportunity to access specialised health care services, upgrade of the National Psychiatric Hospital and Georgetown School of Nursing, and construction of the Port Mourant Health Centre.

4.72          Mr. Speaker, in 2012, $335 million was spent on training of public health personnel to meet the growing demand for both basic and specialised services. Further, the sector benefited from the return of another batch of 21 new Cuban trained Guyanese doctors, deployed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, the New Amsterdam Hospital and several other health facilities. Government also executed other critical aspects of the sector’s mandate through the provision of expanded services, including tuberculosis and malaria testing, numerous vaccination campaigns, introduction of dialysis services and knee and hip replacement surgery, and medical evacuation of critically ill patients from hinterland locations.

4.73          In 2013, the health sector will advance development of a new strategic plan, which will incorporate lessons learnt from the previous strategic plan while still consolidating the gains made in the sector over the past five years. In this context, $19.2 billion has been allocated this year to the sector with the aim of achieving universal health coverage through the primary health care approach.

4.74          Towards this objective, over $2.3 billion has been allocated for the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of health infrastructure countrywide of which $1.3 billion has been budgeted for the state-of-the-art specialty surgical hospital and the Port Kaituma District Hospital. In an effort to improve the supply chain management system a new pharmaceutical and medical warehouse equipped with necessary software was commissioned earlier this year and which is expected to result in a more efficient distribution network for drugs and medical supplies.

4.75          Over $369 million has been budgeted for human resource development to enhance the competency of health officials. The system will benefit from the return of a further 278 Cuban trained doctors who will be deployed countrywide. Further, in the context of specialised care, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), in collaboration with overseas universities, is offering post graduate programmes in gynaecology, orthopaedics, internal medicine, paediatrics, emergency medicine, anaesthesiology and surgery.

4.76          Mr. Speaker, maternal health is a top priority on Government’s health care agenda with a view of advancing progress towards the reduction of maternal mortality and under-5 mortality. In early March, national consultations were held to develop an action plan towards eliminating the current bottlenecks in the provision of quality maternal health care services as part of the MDG Acceleration Framework process. The under-5 mortality concerns are being addressed with, among other things, a neonatal intensive care unit being established at the GPHC with support from an overseas based partner and will be expanded through the same joint public private initiative in Linden and West Demerara.

4.77          In an effort to intensify the fight against malaria, Government has budgeted for the procurement and distribution of over 6,000 long lasting insecticide treated bed nets for hinterland communities primarily in mining areas. In addition, chronic non-communicable diseases now present a particular challenge for Guyana and the world as we overcome infectious diseases of previous times. These include cardiovascular disease and hypertension, diabetes, cancers and chronic pulmonary diseases. Changing lifestyles, especially in diet and an emerging sedentary habit, the use of tobacco and abuse of alcohol have contributed significantly to the shift from communicable diseases, and budget allocations within the health sector will increasingly target addressing this shift.

c.         Housing

4.78          Mr. Speaker, the vision of this Government for the housing sector remains grounded on the principle of housing all our citizens in sustainable settlements. As such, continued emphasis is placed on providing access to affordable housing, developing new sustainable housing schemes, increasing the provision of turnkey housing, expanding construction of core houses, advancing the resolution of unplanned housing settlements, promoting community development planning and implementing a hinterland housing improvement programme.

4.79          In 2012, a sum of $4.7 billion was expended in the housing sector towards increasing access to affordable housing, improving the quality of infrastructure for housing schemes and regularising squatter settlements. Nine (9) One-Stop-Shop outreaches were conducted, 5,869 house lots were allocated, 4,996 land titles processed, and 2,577 distributed, while 75 core houses were constructed and distributed,  bringing the total number of Guyanese benefiting from the core house pilot to 116 households in Regions 3, 4 and 5. Further, 18 teachers, 25 nurses and 17 police officers received fast track prequalification for loans for home construction while, through the Turnkey Housing Initiative, 44 families of Regions 3 and 4 received two-bedroom houses. Additionally, 112 coastal families benefitted under the home improvement subsidies and 23 hinterland families under the hinterland pilot.

4.80          Mr. Speaker, for 2013 the Government has allocated $3.1 billion to the housing sector for citizens to have improved access to housing and to improve the quality of life in both housing schemes and in regularised settlements. To this end, 5,900 house lots will be distributed and over 4,000 land titles processed and distributed. In addition, a total of 210 additional core houses will be constructed and distributed. Through the innovative turnkey initiative 48 professionals between the ages of 25 and 35 will have the opportunity to own a 1,600 square foot home at an affordable cost. Additionally, over 200 home improvement subsidies will be distributed to families on the coastland and 125 to hinterland families. Also in 2013, Government will advance preparation of a young professional housing programme, with semi-gated communities being developed to meet the needs of this demographic group.

d.         Water

4.81          Mr. Speaker, Government will continue to make significant investment in the water sector placing emphasis on ensuring that all Guyanese have access to an acceptable supply of potable water. Over the medium term attention will also be placed on expanding the delivery of treated water and consolidating the gains in the sector, while still expanding access to safe water in the hinterland.

4.82          During 2012, over $2.2 billion was expended in the sector for the installation of 20 kilometres of transmission and distribution mains, the upgrading of water treatment plants in Rose Hall, Pouderoyen, Fellowship, Covent Garden and Eccles, and the completion of 3 boreholes, benefitting over 40,000 residents. Contracts were awarded for the construction of new treatment plants at Wisroc and Amelia’s Ward, to provide over 30,000 residents with safer water. In addition, 7 photovoltaic systems were installed, 5 water supply systems upgraded, and a medium depth borehole was constructed at Sand Creek benefitting some 10,000 hinterland residents.

4.83          Mr. Speaker, in 2013, $2.7 billion has been budgeted to increase the level and quality of potable water supply to new areas through the upgrade of distribution systems, installation  of transmission mains, improved service connections, metering, construction of new boreholes, the construction and completion of wells at Cotton Tree, Hope, Sparendaam and Lochaber, the upgrade of service connections on the East Coast Demerara and East Berbice, and the construction of a storage tank at Bartica which, together, will benefit over 82,000 persons in Regions 2 to 7. Also, the water supply system in areas such as Kara Kara, Noitgedacht, Nottinghamshire, Watooka and Richmond Hill, benefitting over 5,000 persons, will be upgraded. In addition, two water treatment plants at Wisroc and Amelia’s Ward will be constructed, along with the installation of transmission mains and district meters thereby benefitting approximately 30,000 residents. These projects are expected to provide for the reduction of non revenue water, improved level of service, reliability, water quality, and improved treated water coverage.

4.84          In addition, in keeping with the development of the hinterland communities and improving the quality of life of our indigenous people, the sum of $160 million is budgeted for the Hinterland Water Supply Programme which will benefit in excess of 15,000 persons within Regions 1, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

e.         Sanitation

4.85          Mr. Speaker, Government’s commitment to ensuring a safer and more efficient sanitation system that will improve public health and sustainable economic development remains unquestionable. This is evident in the significant investments being made in the establishment of a National and Regional Solid Waste Management Strategy and the Georgetown Sanitation Improvement Programme.

4.86          In 2012, over $500 million was spent to procure equipment and materials to start rehabilitation works on 9 sewer-pumping stations within the Georgetown sewer network. In addition, $367.6 million was spent on the continued construction of the waste-receiving facility at the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill (HBSL). Substantial work was carried out on Cell 1 which continued to receive municipal solid waste at an average of over 320 tonnes daily, well above the original design indicator of 250 tonnes per day. In addition, Government distributed over 120,000 tablets to fight the spread and transmission of filaria and other water borne diseases caused by contact with contaminated water and soil between Melanie and Timehri.

4.87          In 2013, $600 million is budgeted to continue rehabilitation works on the Georgetown sewer systems to bring benefits to over 40,000 households within the project area, the completion of the energy efficiency pilot project which is intended to reduce energy consumption at selected pumping stations, and the continued distribution of 900,000 tablets to treat filaria and other neglected tropical diseases between Enmore and Timehri. Another $732 million is budgeted for the HBSL in 2013 which will facilitate the procurement of rear-compaction vehicles and associated bins, public awareness strategy and campaign, completion of infrastructure works on Cell 1 of HBSL, leachate treatment facilities, and stormwater ponds. When completed, HBSL will serve over 300,000 residents from Cane Grove to Timehri, including Georgetown, and will adequately receive and process 320 tonnes municipal solid waste daily.

f.          Vulnerable Groups and Other Targeted Interventions

Not bad at all!!! However I wish the Gov't can be more transparent and stop filling thier pockets  and their friends pockets. Let's not forget that within this past year the travelling public is again held as hostage due to the Gov't deal with EZ Jet. Corruption is still rampant and untill then all these improved growth will have little effect on the small man. 

THIS CARING AND COMPASSIONATE GOVT HAS IT'S MAIN OBJECTICE AS TAKING THE GUYANESE PEOPLE TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP. NOW WHEN UNCLE NEHRU SPEAKS AL YUH GUN LISTEN.

The “best and brightest” have taken us for one inglorious ride.....

Let's Examine Dr Singh and Dr Jagdeo true record.....

DEAR EDITOR,

Mr. Nigel Hinds’s letter “Masters of Finance – Singh, Greenidge & Ram” (Stabroek News, March 15, 2012) has drawn sharp comments on the meaning and intent of the term “best and brightest”, particularly from those who felt that Mr. Hinds was unjustifiably praising Dr. Ashni Singh, the Minister of Finance.

In fact, “best and brightest” is a term of deprecation going back at least to a letter in a 1769 publication in which the writer used it mockingly and ironically to describe King George III’s ministers. Exactly two hundred years later, its place in infamy was sealed when journalist David Halberstam used it as the title of his # 1 bestseller which exposed the intellectual bankruptcy of the whiz-kids of John Kennedy’s disastrous policy that led to America’s ignominious defeat in the Vietnam War.

That it was in that context of derision that Mr. Hinds identified Dr. Singh is clear from his paragraph calling for his “cleansing the Augean Stables filled with questionable deals, those facilitated by National Commercial and Industrial Development Limited (NICIL), sale of Sanata Textile Mills, Amaila Falls Project engineered by the infamous Fip Motilal, Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC] contracts with New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation [New GPC], and the absence of lottery funds from Consolidated Fund to name a ‘few’”.

It is public knowledge that Dr. Singh was personally involved in every one of these “questionable deals”, and in the case of the “infamous” Fip Motilall, Dr. Singh’s ministry caused to be issued through GINA a three-page attack of undignified calumny on “Ram-like critics” who, on the bizarre selection of Fip Motilall as contractor for the road to the Amaila Falls, dared to expose Motilall as a fake contractor. They have been proved right and Dr. Singh wrong.

In the case of the GPHC and New GPC contracts, it is the Dr. Singh-controlled National Procurement and Tender Administration Board that annually approves single source contracts, and outrageous of all, Dr. Singh chairs the truly egregious National Industrial & Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) which spearheaded the tender for the Amaila Road Project. But these were only a few examples of Dr. Singh’s “brightness”.

Here are some others:

1. Every single audit report since Dr. Singh became Minister of Finance reminds us that “the Contingencies Fund continues to be abused”. And the abuser: the Minister of Finance in whom section 41 (2) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA) invests sole powers and responsibilities over the Contingencies Fund.

2. Dr. Singh’s Finance Ministry has underwritten every one of the corrupt transactions of the Jagdeo Administration since October 2006, including the infamous Pradoville 2 for which Dr. Singh’s NICIL allotted house lots to former President Jagdeo, Cabinet Members, members of NICIL board and friends, all at below market price; computer purchases from a Brooklyn barbershop location; sole sourcing of school books for $90 million; disastrous multi-billion dollar road and other infrastructure contracts; and the sale and giveaway of state properties.

3. On all but one occasion of Dr. Singh’s presentation of the [annual] mid-year report under section 67 of the FMAA, the report pre-dates by months the date of its publication, prompting integrity concerns about Dr. Singh. 4. Dr. Singh has never once complied with section 21 of the FMAA dealing with conditional appropriations, concealing the real annual budget deficit. . Nor on his own recent admission in the National Assembly, has he ever complied with the section 24

(4) of the FMAA, on each of the fourteen occasions he came to the National Assembly for supplementary funds.

5. Dr. Singh has begun to use creative financing to plug the ballooning budget deficit caused by over-spending and non-receipt of the Norway money. In 2010 he treated $11.117 billion as Miscellaneous Income, “the net result of the ‘closure’ of inactive accounts, and retiring long outstanding obligations in relation to the issuance and redemption of Government Securities.”

6. Dr. Singh was central to the sale of state property and the unlawful granting of tax exemptions to the Ramroop group, concessions which have been abused and which any responsible Minister of Finance would revoke. In these transactions, Dr. Singh had not one but three occasions to check the validity, legality and propriety of the transactions: as Minister of Finance, as Chairman of NICIL, and as a senior Cabinet minister. He missed them all.

7. As Minister of Finance, Dr. Singh controls the Consolidated Fund and has allowed the proceeds from the Lottery to be placed in a “special” account outside of the Consolidated Fund. He approves the operations of this extra-ordinarily special account from which only his mentor and protector former President Jagdeo could spend.

8. Dr. Singh was part of a transaction for $4 billion in which there was sufficient evidence to refer Minister of Housing Irfaan Ally for misleading the National Assembly.

9. Dr. Singh has presented five budgets to the National Assembly totaling $627.5 Billion.  During that time, we have had no natural disasters or economic shocks undermining the Budget. Yet, during the same period, Dr. Singh has returned to the Assembly with fourteen (14) supplementary appropriation bills covering over 440transactions totaling $67.5 billion – conditions that would embarrass even a mediocre budget controller.  For good measure, none of the transactions involving drawings from the Contingencies Fund, covering a minimum of $19.5 billion, was brought within the “next sitting” of the National Assembly timeframe required under section 41 (5) of the FMAA.

10. Dr. Singh has ministerial responsibility for the National Insurance Scheme and the Insurance Act. To him therefore, is due more than a quarter share of the blame in Jagdeo-Dr. Singh-Luncheon-Geeta Singh quartet for the NIS loss of $5 billion in Clico.

11. As Finance Minister Dr. Singh would have known of the mistake that led to the excessive VAT rate of 16%. In order to disguise the effect of the mistake and a windfall of close to twenty billion dollars, he sought supplementary spending provisions of $18 billion (24% of the Budget) in the last two months of 2007! “Brightness” is certainly not the word to describe such shocking conduct. No wonder, neither Dr. Singh nor former President Jagdeo has responded to my several public challenges to them to release an unredacted copy of the report of the Barbadian consultant who was contracted to carry out the exercise. Together Mr. Jagdeo and Dr. Singh have so far gouged the Guyanese taxpayers of more than fifty billion dollars.

12. Dr. Singh exercises professional, personal and private control (PPP/C) of the Audit Office in a manner that is unique to Guyana but inconsistent with the Constitution, the FMAA and the independence rules of the auditing profession, with obvious effect on thequality of the audits. .

As readers would expect, such a letter cannot address all the financial shenanigans hidden in the spending of $627 billion (US$3,135 million) during the last Parliament.

Only a thorough investigation initiated by the National Assembly will reveal how the “best and brightest” Dr. Singh .........

and his mentor, that other “best and brightest” Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo,.....

 have mismanaged the country’s finances for five years while taking the entire country for one inglorious ride.

Christopher Ram

 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Let's see how

 Nehru,Dem_Guy, Councie,

Alena, Baseman....

Hydroelectric power development will indeed become a reality in a few years.

Ramsammy say Guyana will teach Haiti about Agriculture.

US Govt say Ramsammy was involved in Smuggleing with Roger Khan.... and Jagdeo and Ramotar had to know about their runnings

Why would anyone trust those B@tty Boys who call thiefing Development.

E GO BE WAN REALITY JUSS LIKE A DE SKELDAN FACTORY.