Singh unveils trillion-dollar budget
NIS from $17,500 to $21,537 per month.
“This will make an additional $600 million of disposable income available to over 12,000 persons”, Singh announced.
The removal of duty and value-added tax (VAT) on sports equipment and technology is also on the cards according to the Minister.
The Government according to him will remove VAT and duty on essential cell phone accessories, such as chargers, and charging cables, along with phone components for repairs.
Life and Medical Insurance will witness a reduction according to the subject minister as taxpayers will be allowed a deduction from their chargeable income for premiums paid for life and medical insurance up to a maximum of 10 per cent of their income or $50,000 monthly [whichever is lower] according to Singh.
A $3000 voucher towards the cost of an eye test is slated for over 20,500 school children and 76,000 pensioners at a cost of over $840 million.
Those who require spectacles are eligible for a $15,000 voucher towards the cost of the spectacles.
This measure is estimated to cost $955 million.
The fiscal plan is slated to cater for women between the ages of 21 and 65 for cervical cancer testing. They are entitled to a $8,000 voucher for testing, the Minister revealed.
“This intervention will cost an estimated $2.8 billion”, he told the National Assembly.
Senior citizens are expected to see an increase in old age pension from $33,000 to $36,000 per month, which according to Singh will place an additional $2.7 billion of disposable income in the hands of 76,000 pensioners.
He said that the government will collaborate with commercial banks to lower the interest rates on loans up to $5 million.
It was announced that the government will extend the application of freight cost adjustment to compute import taxes and to combat the increase in shipping costs for 12 months at a cost of over $6 billion.
The Government will maintain the zero excise tax on fuel according to Singh.
“At current, prices this measure results in the Government foregoing an estimated $40 billion annually’, he explained.
The finance minister said that “$7 billion will be allocated for measures to be determined after consultations with stakeholders, aimed at containing the impact of price increases”.
According to him, the government will continue its expansion of the part-time job programme.
On this note, he informed the National Assembly that $10 billion would be allocated towards the expansion and continuation of the part-time job programme.
After the Finance Minister’s Budget Presentation, several Members of the Parliamentary Opposition expressed disappointment as they said that they expected that the fiscal plan would have catered for the “small man”.
The budget debate is scheduled to begin on Monday, January 22nd. sum of $135.2 Billion according to Singh.
He informed that $28.7 billion will go towards the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of school and educational facilities.
An additional sum of $8.1 billion will be assigned to the Because We Care Cash grant and uniform grant from which 205,000 children are slated to benefit.
He added that $3.1 billion will go towards the distribution of Education Ministry’s school grants.
$4.9 billion will go towards the continuation of the National School Feeding Programme, followed by $3 billion in budgetary allocations towards the purchasing of more textbooks for primary and secondary schools.
$4.1 billion is expected to go towards supporting operations at the University of Guyana which is the country’s premier tertiary institution.
$4 billion will be assigned to the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) to support 6,000 new students and 3,967 continuing students, according to Singh.
“$350 million will be allocated for the bulk licensing arrangement with COURSERA to train approximately 450,000 persons in a wide range of areas where skill gaps exist” , the minister announced.
$735 million in budgetary allocations will go towards the training of 1,000 young persons in relevant aspects of information and communication technology (ICT) to take up outsourced jobs in this sector and more so ICT-based nearshore jobs , according to the Finance Minister.
Singh added that $2.3 billion will be allocated to support the continuity of Technical and Vocational Education.
$78 Billion has been budgeted in the 2024 fiscal plan to develop housing infrastructure countrywide under the Housing sector.
$22.5 billion has been budgeted for water quality and supply systems countrywide.
Under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports , $2.7 billion will go towards the continuous development of culture and arts while $4.6 billion will be allocated towards the advancement of sports locally.