“[N]o Houdini or illusionist could conjure up a $330B budget, if indeed the treasury was empty. It is sickening to hear the untruth being repeated over and over that the APNU+AFC left the country bankrupt. Far from it! Tell me where you found the money from to produce a budget in thirty days?”
This was the inquiry made by Alliance for Change (AFC) Executive Member and Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Raphael Trotman this morning in the National Assembly, during the debate of the 2020 National Budget.
Trotman said that contrary to what is being expressed, the PPP/C government took over an economy that was described as the fastest growing in the hemisphere, if not in the world. He added that even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in November 2019, predicted an 86% growth in 2020. Also, the former minister stated that for the past five years, Guyana has witnessed sustained and “envious growth”. Given the foregoing, the former Natural Resource Minister said that any claim that Guyana is a “deh bad” country would be an untruth.
“Guyana, under the Granger led administration, and with Winston Jordan as Minister of Finance, experienced five straight years of sustained economic growth at an average of 3.6% of GDP, with the highest being 2019 at 5.4%. This, I can say without successful contradiction, is the best average in the entire Region,” he noted.
The MP said that it is “a shame that people who call themselves patriots would indulge in such reckless misrepresentations”.
