Budget talks between the government and opposition appear to be effectively dead with APNU spokesman on finance Carl Greenidge saying that the time available between now and the laying of the budget leaves no opportunity for meaningful and full discussions even as the government accused the coalition of being “dishonest” about proposed talks.
With the opposition holding a one-seat majority, the government would need their votes to pass the Budget and avoid cuts as happened in the past two years. For the past two years, the opposition parties have asked to be part of the full budget-making process. This has not yet happened, and the 2012 and 2013 budgets were cut by the opposition. After last year’s cut the opposition parties argued that it could have been avoided if they were asked to participate in the budget talks. Any talks for this year’s budget appear to have been bogged down as the two sides exchanged salvoes over their participation.
At a news conference on Friday, President Donald Ramotar said that the opposition’s decision not to
