Georgetown: Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh has announced that Budget 2022 will be presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.
In a statement to the press, the Ministry of Finance related that over the past few months, the Minister had been consulting with various stakeholders, including Government Ministries, the private sector and other agencies to prepare for the new Budget.
It must be noted that this year’s Budget is likely to be the largest one ever recorded in the history of the country, given that the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has approved the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act, which will permit the government to spend monies garnered from the oil and gas sector.
While the Ministry of Finance was sure not to divulge too much information on the much anticipated Budget, it hinted that it will comprise a number of critical developmental programmes and projects, which would catapult Government’s agenda.
“It will also be a continuation of the fast-paced development path which served to be of benefit to citizens all across the country since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) entered office on August 2, 2020,” the Ministry informed.
This year’s Budget 2022 will be the third Budget to be presented by the PPP/C administration and the second for Dr. Singh who has been serving as Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance since November 2020. The first Budget was an Emergency Budget presented back in August 2020.
The $330 billion Budget included $51 billion for Health, $52 billion for Education, $34 billion for Public Works and $38 billion for National Security.
Meanwhile, last year’s Budget, the largest ever presented, was a whopping $383.1 billion.
The Budgets presented so far by the PPP, according to the Ministry of Finance, saw the immediate reversal of a number of punitive taxes instituted by the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government, among other significant measures.
The Ministry pointed out that last year’s Budget comprised developmental projects in a number of sectors. “The 2021 Budget presented in February 2021, under the theme, ‘A Path to Recovery, Economic Dynamism, and Resilience’ included funding for the construction of various housing schemes and expansion of existing ones, investment in the revitalisation of the country’s sugar industry, programmes in partnership with the private sector and other stakeholders for investment in the tourism and hospitality sector, the construction of a number of new roads and other infrastructure. Further, a number of cash grants to citizens that assisted them after the destruction of crops and livestock during the devastating flood of June 2021, a seven percent increase to the public sector and cash grants throughout the year, which allowed for the stimulation of the economy,” the Ministry boasted.
It added that large injections were made into the country’s health sector with assistance being offered to frontline workers.
The Ministry was keen to note that the developmental programmes included in the Budgets represent the fulfillment of promises made by the PPP/C administration in its 2020 Manifesto.
