Guyana Chronicle
June 17, 2001
FINANCE Minister, Mr. Saisnarine Kowlessar says the 2001 Budget caters for all sectors of Guyana.
Mr. Kowlessar was a guest on a live programme on GTV Channel 11 following his budget presentation Friday.
The Finance Minister used the forum to explain measures in the budget being presented and the projected impact on the nation.
Hailing it as "a good budget for the entire Guyana", he stated that the social sector will receive almost 40% of the budget allocation.
He also noted that major emphasis is on reducing poverty, and everything in the Public Sector Investment Programme is geared for the reduction of poverty.
Sums are allocated to the Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP), the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) and several other areas, Kowlessar said.
Another plus he identified was making available more concessions to the private sector.
Responding to a query on the large allocation for the education sector, the Finance Minister noted that education is the key to transforming any society and if we want to get out of poverty we have to educate the nation.
Plans in the education sector include improving the quality of education, development of information technology, computerising schools, expanding distance education and ensuring complete universal access to education.
The reason for the vast sum for education is because "we see education as the agent for change in transforming our society", he said.
He noted that the allocation for wages is fairly reasonable but the government will have to negotiate with the unions what will be the actual handout to the workers.
Minister Kowlessar was on the programme with a team of experts including Mr. Winston Jordan, the Director of Budget.
Mr. Jordan, during the programme, said Guyana is trying to alleviate poverty, raise growth and integrate into the world economy.
The challenges are not insurmountable, he added.
According to the economist, the budget as presented is a process of achieving those objectives but these will not be achieved within a year, but over a medium period of four or five years.
He added that from that perspective the budget is cast into an efficient and effective manner to sustain these objectives to achieve a high level of growth, reducing poverty and integrating into the world economy.
Commenting on the reforming of the tax system, he said there will be a total overhaul of the tax system since there is need to review the tax base and widen the tax net.
He said one reason for establishing the Guyana Review Authority was to improve revenue and have more efficiency in the collection.
"Our vision is to definitely reform the tax system", Jordan remarked.
The Finance Minister maintained that there should be no fear of prices going up as a result of the budget.
"As we have announced in the budget there will be no new taxes, no few fees, no fines", he noted.
He acknowledged that people have had bad experiences in the past, and usually expect that budget time means to stock up.
He, however, added that because of market forces prices might go up in some areas causing some inflation.
With a more liberalised incentive regime with concessions and tax holidays for investors, a business boom is promising, he noted.
The Finance Minister, however, pointed out that the political climate is an integral factor and investors need to be confident about the environment.
He remains optimistic that with the liberalised incentive regime and the restructuring of the investment agency, Go-Invest, more investments will come to Guyana. (GUYANA INFORMATION SERVICES)