Shadow Finance Minister, Juretha Fernandes on Monday raised concerns about the government’s plan to have $458.4 billion, or 40 percent of the $1.146 Trillion budget backed by loans. She said this equates to $1.8 million in debt per household, or about $588,000 per citizen.
During her contribution to the first day of debates on the 2024 budget in the National Assembly she said, “In an oil rich economy, instead of creating a pathway to sustainable prosperity for Guyanese, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has decided to shackle every man, woman and child with a debt burden, and there seems to be no light at the end of this tunnel.”
Fernandes said that for every child who will receive the $40, 000 “Because we care cash grant,” they will also be receiving a “Because we do not care” debt burden of more than half a million-dollars.
Expounding on the pace of escalating debt, she recalled that when the PPP took office in 2020, there was an external debt ceiling of $400 billion.
Fernandes highlighted that the PPP is adding almost the same amount of debt to the nation as the total external debt ceiling under the coalition regime.
She also expressed concern that the government will soon approach the House to increase the domestic and external debt ceiling for a third time as well as revise the withdrawal rules governing the Natural Resource Fund (NRF). Fernandes said she believes this is being done to pave the way for a full fledged funding of the gas-to-energy project for which the government is yet to get a US$660M loan from the US Exim Bank.
Overall, she said the 2024 budget has been the biggest disappointment from the PPP since assuming office.
During his contribution, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, shared that when he was a boy, he had a terrible habit of chewing on his handkerchief. Even though it was tasteless, he did it anyway. Listening to Fernandes’ presentation, Indar said he was transported to those boyhood days as he found her contributions to be lacking substance.
In large part, Indar used his 35 minute allocation to remind the opposition of its callous behavior when in government during the 2015 to 2020 period. He expressed surprise that Fernandes and her counterparts have the audacity to now “crawl out of their tombs” to lecture the government on what it means to cater to the small man when it was they who instituted more than 200 back-breaking tax measures.
He reminded as well that when the APNU+AFC regime assumed office in 2015, it dedicated a mere $39.4B for capital spend and only did 16 roads for that time. “So much for caring for the people,” he said.
In comparison, Indar said his government is spending $73B this year on miscellaneous roads alone because it understands the importance of these types of initiatives in enhancing the quality of citizens’ lives. “So this will add to the 4000 we have done already,” the minister said.
As for the Fernandes’ substantive point on rising debt, Indar said his colleague perhaps picked up the wrong budget or read it upside down. He strongly contended that the budget, and its approach to spending, leaves Guyana’s low debt-to-GDP ratio on a sustainable pathway while addressing every strata of life. Indar expressed dismay that his colleague, who is supposed to be the Shadow Finance Minister, is incapable of understanding such a rudimentary fact.
