Private sector satisfied with budget consultations

By Michael Younge

Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry  (GCCI) President Clinton Urling says that businesses in Guyana are not looking forward to the injurious “gridlock” and “rancour”, which characterised last year’s budget presentation as he lobbied politicians to demonstrate “compromise” during the process this year.

Clinton was at the time speaking on the popular Current Issues and Analysis (CIA) show aired daily on Television Guyana (TVG)/ Channel 28. He said that the position of his chamber coincides with that of the Private Sector Commission, which strongly believes that politicians on both sides of the National Assembly must put pettiness aside and demonstrate political maturity in the interest of assisting Guyana along the development trajectory.
“We don’t want gridlock and political instability and that type of environment with a dark cloud setting back the country,” he said, while admitting that government’s pursuit of a smooth passage and full acceptance of the budget as prepared could not be guaranteed in a highly sensitive political environment, particularly given the extreme differences in the economic policy positions of the parties.
“This year, I don’t expect to see uniformed positions or total acceptance of the budget, but I do expect to see a reduction in the issues and amount of items cut or removed from the government’s presentation,” he said sternly.  He explained that the chamber is satisfied that the government has embarked upon a commendable process of consultations ahead of the presentation of the estimates this year in light of the challenges faced last year.
Celebrate commonalities
Urling, who is expected to demit the GCCI chair later this year, underscored the importance of the government and opposition understanding the need to celebrate their commonalities as opposed to elaborating or sensationalising their differences for the sake of political gain. He said the latter approach continues to have a negative redounding and debilitative impact on both the socio-economic variables that impact the economy and public morale.
“All parties need to be reasonable in their expectations, but as it stands and with the situation in Parliament… the government and opposition must understand the importance of compromise… it would require greater accommodation here,” he emphasised.
He did admit that the chamber remains optimistic that the process even with the best of debates and highest level of scrutiny will run smoothly. Asked about the private sector’s expectations, Urling said that the things that it discussed with the government, opposition parties, and other stakeholders could be described as “reasonable” and “rational”.
As expected, the private sector asked for increased allocations to be made to the University of Guyana so as to improve its functionality and directly impact the quality of education received by Guyanese students.
The GCCI also expects that government will seek to address the mining boom, which has led to a spike in the Gross Domestic Product of Guyana. He said that the private sector wanted more funding to go towards developing various parts of the mining areas via direct investments in fixing and laying new roads, repairing and establishing more airstrips, while increasing the security of densely populated communities.
“But we still have some barriers to competitiveness…we need to address those barriers and so this year, the focus of the private sector is to see the reduction of those barriers,” Urling remarked as he alluded to expectations ahead of the budget presentation by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh.
Surprisingly, he defended the Value Added Tax which he admitted was yielding tremendous benefits for the Guyanese people.
The budget has to be presented by the end of March 2013.