A pre-2018 National Budget Symposium organized by the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) on November 23, 2017 at the Regency Suites attracted a number of interested persons from all walks of life. The Symposium featured presentations from Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram; Opposition Member of Parliament, Bishop Juan Edghill; Chartered Accountant, Nigel Hinds; and FITUG Executive Committee member, Aslim Singh. The FITUG had also invited Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan to the activity but the Minister advised he was unavailable and did not send a representative.
From the FITUG’s presentation, the attendees learnt that there has been a substantial slowing of the economy as the rate of growth as declined by over 40 per cent in the last five (5) years. Alongside that troubling situation, the FITUG revealed that Government revenues have risen by some 35 per cent in the same period. The Federation opined that this has made life very difficult for the working-people contending that the greater tax pressures have forced families to curtail spending and in effect reduce their standard-of-living. FITUG also recognized that there have been substantial increases in the cost of meat, fish, eggs, vegetables and health services and pointed out this that could lend to increasing sickness and ailments in the future putting further strain on the public health system. The Federation charged that the Government has its work cut out for it and called on the Government to ensure that it begins to deliver on the promised ‘Good Life’. Our presentation indicated that the Budget should promote investment in our people; seek to reduce inequality; protect our elderly and vulnerable; safeguard our traditional sectors while seeking to diversity and strengthen our economy.
Chartered Accountant, Nigel Hinds, in his presentation, sought to provide a context in which Budgets should be crafted and implemented and argued that equity, fairness and social justice must be the hallmarks of the Budget. He charged that a Budget must take cognizance of undertakings to the electorate in keeping with the Administration’s manifesto and adherence to the rule of law is also critical. He contended that Budgets must be formulated recognizing that all people deserve to benefit whether they are supportive of the Government or not. He opined this has not been the case in Guyana and contended that we are building a colony in a country. Mr Hinds argued convincingly that there is a strong need to re-examine spending priorities and approaches in order to promote equality and a better life for all. He opined too that there may be the need for us to re-look at our legislation with respect to procurement.
Bishop Juan Edghill argued that the Budget should seek to protect jobs and pointed to the sad situation in the mining, sugar, and forestry sector for instance. He said also that there is a strong need to diversify the economy and drew reference to the opportunities in the Information, Communication and Technology sector, as well as tourism where he contended they were good possibilities for reasonable-paying jobs. He noted that the economy is largely propped up by the operations of the two large foreign-owned gold mines and in their absence the situation would have been even graver. The PPP Member of Parliament told the audience that should his Party be re-elected in 2020 it intends to ensure that every displaced sugar worker receives some support from the Government. He lamented too that investments have dried up and heavy taxes are stifling local entrepreneurs which is feeding uncertainty and reducing confidence.
Well-known Accountant, Attorney-at-Law and Analyst, Christopher Ram in his presentation opined that the 2018 Budget will largely be a repeat of what has been seen and said before. Ram noted that Guyana, despite not having a Ministry of Labour for the first time since independence, has its largest and most expensive Government in the history. He said this large bureaucracy staffed by dozens of advisors and assistants has resulted in a massive increase in current expenditure forcing the substantial increases in taxes that have been foisted on the people. He also expressed his deep concern that the Parliament, up to the time of the Symposium, met only for 16 times this year and only approved 3 new pieces of legislation and 1 piece of regulation, the worst performance in the our nation’s history. Of the three (3) laws that were approved, one was the infamous SARA Act which Ram charged was the worst piece of legislation in our country’s history. He went on to say that a strong signal needed to be sent to the population as a whole to inspire confidence which is at rock bottom currently. Ram urged that the Budget should be pro-people, pro-development, pro-worker. However, he did caution that he did not see this to be the product that will be presented.
During the discussion, attendees expressed their appreciation to the presenters noting that they indeed were more informed. Of concern was the reduction of investments and in effect on job creation, on this the presenters noted that there seems to be no coordinated efforts to secure investments and thus the repercussions that have been seen. The matter of renewable energy with respect to the proposed wind farm, it was recognized, from all appearances, that little work has been done in this regard but the issue of renewable energy has to be looked at holistically to determine the best method though hydropower it was recognized held great potential. All in all, the activity was a signal success and brought out many points that were critical and important at this time.
