Poverty not addressed in 2011 budget-Unemployment figures unknown.

Georgetown- "Crime is a poverty issue, and nobody seems to care about the unemployment figure, even the Minister of Finance in his budget speech failed to talk about it", the words of Chartered Accountant and Economist Christopher Ram on the issue of security and economy. He explained that if you examine the National Insurance Scheme statistics, there are now few people in employment compared to the last decade. Ram said that he is not sure where the tomorrow Guyana is as alluded to by the Finance Minister during his budget speech. He contends that if the budget does not address today’s problems how can you get to tomorrow. He however said that there is potential in some aspects of the budget and things are looking positive as it regards Guyana’s prospects for the future. He cautioned that the Government needs to take careful note of huge spending in the face of a huge deficit.