In their budget submissions to the Ministry of Finance, the opposition parties are making a case for an emphasis on job creation, social safety nets and the diversification of the economy to ensure that the country develops and poverty is eliminated.
In addition, APNU and AFC, whose support is necessary for the approval of the budget, are both urging tax reform, including the lowering of the Value-Added Tax, while also stressing the need for greater accountability in financial management.
In its submission to the Minister of Finance, main opposition APNU said that priorities for the budget should be job creation, training, education and health access for the poor. In its proposal, it also says that there should be special treatment, such as a ‘living pension,’ for the vulnerable, including old age pensioners.
It said that the 2013 budget measures should also include establishing a living minimum wage.
The proposal said too that there is need for the reform of the NIS and its governance in the medium to longer term “as part of a drive to restore an effective safety net for the populace.”
APNU wants taxes seriously addressed by the government and said that the commission that President Donald Ramotar had established following his election “appears to have been simply a ruse since the [Ministry of Finance] appears to have recently dismissed any reform and the fact that no effort has been made to convene the team.”
“There is an urgent need for a formula that would ensure more equitable burden-sharing across different sectors and communities at a time when income inequalities are becoming more obvious and unacceptable socially and politically. The burden borne by those favoured by the government stands in marked contrast to that facing consumers, versus urban and formal sector employees versus agriculture,” APNU said in their submission.
APNU noted that it is also imperative that the country puts in place arrangements to ensure that the resources of the state are appropriately and fairly managed and distributed.
“A first step in this direction would be to establish acceptable standards of financial administration and management at the national level,” its submission said. “There is widespread concern over the unacceptably low standards to which financial management has deteriorated. Measures already identified by the relevant authorities to garner and safeguard hard-earned financial resources and to ensure accountability in their use, not to mention their cost-effective and efficient deployment, should form part of the 2013 Budget proposals,” it added.
APNU said that an effective Public Procurement Commission (PPC) is needed to help eliminate the abuse in the award of contracts. It said too that strengthening the Audit Office by making it more professional will also guard against the abuse of contracts and corruption. Measures to strengthen the Auditor General’s Department by making it more professional and truly independent will also serve the same purpose.
It called on government to enforce the decisions of the Public Accounts Committee in addition to setting up the PPC.
APNU also wants the budget committee to discuss the evolving policy and programme priorities within which the budgets for 2013, 2014, and 2015 are being prepared and projected.
Diversification
Meanwhile, the AFC in its submission called on the government to create significantly better job opportunities for young people than exists today. It also called for a reduction in the 16% VAT by two percentage points, a 40% reduction on the Berbice River Bridge toll, an increase in old age pension to $15,000 and a 10% increase in public servant wages across the board.
“The Alliance For Change (AFC) believes that fundamental to Guyana’s development is the growth of a diversified economy capable of creating significantly better employment opportunities for our younger citizens than currently exist,” leader of the party Khemraj Ramjattan wrote in a letter to the Minister of Finance on November 28, 2012.
“In keeping with our national priorities and given the fact that 85 percent of Guyana’s foreign earnings still derive from the export of the same primary products which we have been relying on since our independence, almost fifty years ago, we would like to know what are the specific budgetary measures being taken to: (a) Achieve greater economic diversification; and (b) Make education spending more relevant to a school curriculum that is designed to meet the developmental needs of Guyana,” Ramjattan said.
“We recognise that it is the Government’s role to prepare and propose the national budget and we do not seek to interfere with this process. However, as a political party with a growing constituency we will ensure that the needs and interests of our constituents are not ignored in the preparation of the 2013 budget,” he said.
The AFC also called for vehicle duties and taxes to be reduced, as well as zero-taxes on electric cars; the restoration of the Critchlow Labour College subvention; and for the Lotto Funds and National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) funds to be placed into the Consolidated Fund.
“Additionally, as a party committed to improved governance, the AFC continues to be concerned with the non-establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, the blatant misuse of State-media and the illegal activities of NICIL. We consider these to be impediments to constructive engagement on the 2013 budget and insist that these be rectified before the budget is tabled,” Ramjattan added.
