2018 – Page 17 – Guyana Times International

Guyana’s debt spikes by 4.4% in one year

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

– debt to foreigners account for 74.3% of total debt Guyana’s total public debt has been increasing over the last three years; going from G$317.7 billion in 2015 to G$344.9 billion in 2017. Of this amount, almost 75 per cent is owed to foreigners. This is according to the Public Debt Annual Report of 2017, recently released by the Finance Ministry and made available to Parliament. According to the report, in one-year Guyana saw a 4.4 per cent spike in its debt. At the end of 2016, the total public…

Cyclist killed after colliding with container truck

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

A pedal cyclist met his demise on the Houston Public Road on Wednesday when he collided with a container truck, registration number GWW 7629, just outside Parc Rayne in Rahaman’s Park, Greater Georgetown. He was identified as Seeram Seecharran of Lot 16 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD). Guyana Times International understands that at the time of the accident, it was raining. However, the now dead man reportedly darted across the road ahead of oncoming traffic. Reports stated that the container truck collided with him before swerving and coming to a…

Mamaguy….

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

…Budget These PNC types are so transparent…but then, when something’s in your genes, it HAS to be expressed! Genotypes and phenotypes and all that!! Take the Budget Winston Jordan just read out in Parliament over a stupefying five hours!! Your Eyewitness doesn’t have to say he “told you so” on the PNC’s priorities: every Tom, Dick and Harilall predicted they’d be spelling out it’s a “bigger and better” Budget, stacked with handouts for its supporters!! But, as all Guyanese should know by now, bigger isn’t necessarily better – it’s how…

‘Life hard’

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

…says Berbice woman who lost her husband, son and brother By Andrew Carmichael The woman who lost her son, husband and brother in 2016 when they were murdered at Cookrite Savannah in Black Bush Polder, Berbice, benefited from assistance from the Humanitarian Mission of New Jersey Arya Samaj on Friday. The New Jersey Arya Samaj Humanitarian Mission has as its motto: Dedicated to helping children, seniors, victims of gender-based violence, and other individuals who are living in dire poverty. The organisation’s aim is for the beneficiaries to be healthy, educated…

Offer horizons to the poor

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

In Guyana, if nothing else, we should at least have the grace to avoid belittling the poor because of the circumstances of their lives. After all, we all came, in the words of Martin Carter, “from the Nigger Yards” – whether we were of African, Indian, Chinese, Portuguese or even Amerindian origin. The last were also not spared the scorn of not being white. But yet, from each group, there were many who clawed their way out of their degradation through sheer determination and grit, to assert their humanity. We…

Budget 2019: What it means for the ordinary man

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

The analyses of Budget 2019 are ongoing and soon the G$300 billion odd package will be debated in Parliament. Unfortunately, if the past were to be a guide, there will be little or no room for any meaningful change that may be proposed by the Opposition due to the Government’s majority in the National Assembly. The Opposition has already branded the budget ‘visionless and disappointing’, while the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), having noted that some money will be coming back into the hands of consumers, has expressed…

Is the Government dodging?

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

The official results of the Local Government Elections (LGE) were finally announced by GECOM, and they confirmed what the PPP/C had declared a week ago: the PPP had won the popular vote with 61 per cent of votes cast, while APNU trailed far behind with 34 per cent and the AFC collected an insignificant 4 per cent. Because the political parties had contested the LGE separately in their own names, it is not surprising that the vote is seen as a referendum on the performance of the incumbent PNC-led coalition.…

APNU/AFC coalition has proven to be a failed government

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor, The fourth National Budget for the APNU/AFC coalition Government was presented to the National Assembly despite the majority of the Guyanese population, through the Opposition Leader has declared no-confidence against the APNU/AFC administration for the mismanagement of affairs in Guyana Since the 2011-2015 period when the APNU and the AFC were the combined opposition with a dangerous weapon of a parliamentary majority, they have used it deliberately and conveniently to take Guyana down the path of destruction. The combined opposition, during that period, who promised a good life…

GUYWID: Empowering women to be independent

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

By Lakhram Bhagirat One of my favourite poets, Maya Angelou famously said, “if you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain”, and that is exactly what the women of the Guyanese Women In Development (GUYWID) has been doing for almost two decades. They have been transforming the lives of women across Guyana not because those women cannot help themselves but because those women are the most vulnerable, since the people around them who seek to control them are dragging them down. Quite…

Pensioners get G$1000 increase

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 TIMES INT'L

…other measures to benefit ordinary citizens noticeably absent At G$300.7 billion, the National Budget for 2019 was presented on Monday to the National Assembly. But through it all, measures that can directly benefit the small man are noticeably absent. The only thing that Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who spoke almost uninterrupted for five hours during his budget presentation, announced under ‘measures to increase workers’ income was the increase in the income tax threshold to G$780,000 per annum (G$65,000 monthly). This is an increase per month of G$5,000, as the salary…