No reliable means of holding government to budget promises – Businessman

With small businesses in various sectors of the country’s economy having become an increasingly ‘attractive’ option in the face of both high unemployment and evidence of growing entrepreneurial dispositions among younger Guyanese and in low-income households, the country’s recently unveiled 2024 budget presentation has articulated what government envisages as an intended response these issues. In his budget presentation in the National Assembly on Monday January 15, Senior Minister in the Ministry of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh asserted that “the strong growth in the (country’s) economy” now presents “an unprecedented number of opportunities to grow in the country’s economic climate.” According to Dr. Singh, those opportunities repose in the “impending expansion of the energy sector” a development which would realize cheaper and more reliable electricity, thus enabling small businesses “to provide a greater suite of goods and services.” While, however, small business aspirants and existing small business owners seeking growth opportunities may be encouraged by the upbeat tone in Dr. Singh’s presentation, questions are likely to arise in some quarters as to whether the lack of success across political administrations in adequately supporting the growth of the small business sector, previous undertakings notwithstanding, the promises enshrined in the current budget presentation will be supported by corresponding practical action.

When the Stabroek Business sought the opinion of an entrepreneur in the local food sector, on Tuesday, on Dr. Singh’s pronouncement, he described it as a “good budget idea” but noted that successive budget presentations over the years had been unable to “live up to promises” made to the small business sector. “A lot of small business people have good reason not to take the promises in the budget seriously,” he quipped. The businessman, an investor in the local retail trade, told the Stabroek Business that the gap between what he described as “budget promises” is “always a problem in circumstances where execution depends on action by government… we have been there a number of times before,” he added. “Sometimes it seems as though the budget promises are just empty words,” the Region Four businessman told the Stabroek Business earlier this week. Asked to comment on Dr. Singh’s assertion in his budget presentation that “over the last three years of this government continued supporting role of small businesses and employment,” the businessman responded that if that were true, “we would have had more efficient systems for access to borrowing from state sources… but that is not all,” he asserted. “Not a great deal has been done to help small businesses grow by providing market outlets, both at home and outside the country for what they produce.”

In his budget presentation, Dr. Singh had said that “over the last three years this government continued to recognize the integral role of small businesses in improving livelihoods and employment in the economy” the businessman responded that it was difficult to determine ‘the extent’ to which that assertion was ‘provable’. He said that while it was true “funds coming from government have helped some small businesses,” there was plenty of evidence that the government agencies responsible for making loans and grants available had not done “as well as they could have done” in “getting the loans and grants out to small businesses,” adding that “we have to find a way of giving businesses loans and grants using criteria that really have to do with business.” Responding to a question regarding ‘budget promises’, the businessman bemoaned the fact that there is no reliable mechanism through which to continually monitor the extent to which budget promises are being kept. “As far as we know there is no mechanism for holding government to its budget promises.” And according to the local entrepreneur, it is “well worth the while and the money” to create a monitoring mechanism that will “hang over” government ministries and departments “to monitor the extent to which budget promises are being kept” and “publicly call them out when this is not the case.” Asked to comment on the provisions contained in Dr. Singh’s budget presentation, the businessman told the Stabroek Business that “a trillion dollars is a lot of money” and that he was hopeful that with “wise investments and mindful spending” the year ahead may “see the economy and the development of the country going forward.”