While highlighting that Guyana’s fiscal policy has been appropriately supporting growth and “considerably” reducing the fiscal deficit, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on the government to gradually reverse tax subsidies aimed at easing the cost of living.
The IMF said that Guyana’s 2022 budget has reduced current expenditures by about 1% of non-oil GDP compared to 2021, adding that it maintains support for pandemic-related health expenditures. It noted that while cash transfers to households implemented earlier in the pandemic to mitigate the impact of the lockdowns are not permanent, additional measures have been implemented to mitigate the impact of rising commodity prices on households.
