-Ram and McRae

Chartered accounting firm Ram and McRae has criticised the trillion-dollar 2024 budget as being all about spending and borrowing and not addressing the cost of living crisis that has snared thousands of people in the lower brackets.

In its annual budget review for Stabroek News which is carried as an insert in today’s edition, Ram and McRae said: “This Budget makes history, not all for the right reasons. It is the largest Budget ever – by far -much of it in capital works. It is all about spending and borrowing. The Minister has given no explanation for the levels of spending and borrowing. Even if this Government can bring inefficiencies down to 10%, we will have a loss over 100 billion dollars, before any later supplementary provisions”.

The firm said that because of a change in how the Estimates are constructed, the exact starting balance in the Consolidated Fund cannot be determined.

“In other words, the Government will be spending from a fund whose balance is unascertained. The Ministries, Departments and Regions have demonstrated no financial capacity or capability to handle the kinds of sums for which the Minister seeks parliamentary approval”, the review said.

It added that the Capital Budget is now $666.1 billion dollars or US$3.1 billion, without an independent planning authority. It said that Volume 3 of the Estimates identifies close to 400 projects many of which bear nebulous names and descriptions.

“One common factor is that many of them have not been subjected to any serious evaluation. Indeed, many bear the hallmark of slush funds”, the review