Leader of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) David Granger on Monday called for the establishment of a tripartite budget committee. He believes that such a body should be set up as soon as possible to oversee preparation of the national budget and future budgets.
Leader of APNU David Granger
According to Granger, such a committee will collaborate with the Bank of Guyana, the Bureau of Statistics and other departments in presenting an accurate and detailed picture of the economy; identifying all sources of funds and examining potential sources of new funds; It will also propose tax reform measures, including the lowering of the Value Added Tax (VAT) and personal income tax, with their likely impact on revenue and economic growth; propose the inclusion of programmes and projects consistent with public needs identified during the elections such as job creation, community renewal, improved education and poverty alleviation programmes, examine all categories of expenditure and recommend areas where expenditure could be adjusted, foregone, revised, reviewed, renewed or removed.
He said, “The country’s 2012 Budget must be presented to the National Assembly no later than 30th March 2012 and must be passed no later than 29th April. Based on the declared results of the 28th November general and regional elections, however, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic administration was allocated 32 seats and the combined opposition – A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change parties – 33 seats, in the National Assembly.”
He noted that in light of the allocation of seats in the National Assembly, “it would be inadvisable for the PPP/ C administration to proceed to prepare a budget to be brought before the National Assembly without prior consultation with the opposition APNU and AFC.” This year’s budget, dubbed the country’s largest, was $161.4 billion and was presented on January 17.
