| Some of the positives that were reported in the 2010 Budget presented to the nation last February are not expected to be a feature on Monday when Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh presents this year’s body.One such feature is that of sugar production that amounted to 233,736 tonnes in 2009 which was an increase of 3.3 per cent over the previous year.Sugar production in 2010 is a completely different story with the industry marred by several unfavourable occurrences such as waves of industrial action that caused the industry to revise projections downward on two occasions.The Finance Minister, in the 2010 budget spoke of the physical works commenced on the Enmore packaging plant but that facility is yet to be completed. At the same time the Skeldon Sugar Factory has been plagued with problems over the past year.Several billion dollars was budgeted to be invested in the industry yet GuySuCo was forced to bail itself out through land sale. There will be some positives to report such as the continued strong performance of the rice industry.In his 2010 budget speech, Dr Singh reported that the rice industry expanded the acreage under cultivation and earned higher yields, having taken advantage of conducive weather conditions, and having responded favourably to Government’s fertiliser assistance and farmer training programmes.The sector consequently at the reporting period (2009) expanded its output by 9.2 percent to produce 359,789 tonnes, the highest annual production in a decade and the second highest production level in the entire history of the industry.The earnings from rice export had declined because of international prices but Guyana has managed to secure new markets such as Venezuela and the rice industry continued its growth this year.Dr Singh is also expected to report phenomenal growth in the transportation sector given the amount of vehicles that have been purchased and registered in 2010 which is expected to surpass the previous year growth of two per cent.In November 2009 the Governments of Norway and Guyana signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which Dr Singh made mention of in his 2010 budget presentation.At that time he said that it that represented one of the first attempts between a developed and a developing country to work together to implement a national scale model on how forests can be deployed to address climate change without compromising sovereignty or national development priorities.Guyana is yet to receive a single cent from that MoU that was signed and Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo has been complaining bitterly given that Guyana has met all of the criteria set out in the MoU.Dr Singh had told the House at that time in his presentation that in 2010, they had budgeted to receive US$30M through the GRIF, which will enable the financing of critical transformative infrastructure, low carbon small business initiatives, the cost of land demarcation and land titling for indigenous communities, and the work of the Office of Climate Change.President Jagdeo has since committed some of that money to buy in on equity on the construction of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Plant.This year a total of $7.6B was budgeted for roads and bridges but the Ministry subsequently moved to parliament on more than one occasions for several hundred million dollars more.At least $800M was budgeted for the national school feeding programme, targeting over 47,Cheap NFL Jerseys,000 students in nursery and primary levels.Over $940M was allocated for the continued expansion of technical vocational training as well as some $880M allocated for teacher training and development.In 2010, $2.8B was originally allocated to the housing sector with the key targets for the year including the allocation of 5,Cheap Jerseys From China,500 house lots and the processing and distribution of 3,750 land titles.That Ministry subsequently approached the National Assembly for approval to draw down several billion dollars more, most of which went to bailing out GuySuCo.Government had allocated $392.5M to upgrade sports infrastructure in 2010,Jae Crowder Jersey, including the completion of an Olympic sized swimming pool,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, upgrading of Colgrain Pool, a new athletics track,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, tennis courts, and squash courts.Over $100M went to the National Sports Commission to develop sports opportunities countrywide. This Ministry too made subsequent requests through supplementary provisions.Dr Singh had also said that in 2010, the Government will consolidate on the advances made within the security sector reform and has allocated $14.9B to the disciplined forces.Despite this substantial investment the crime rate declined but murders and serious crimes topped the previous year’s figure.The sum of $473M was allocated for the construction of the forensic laboratory which will significantly improve Guyana’s forensic investigative capacity.This has not yet become a reality. The bids were only recently opened for the construction of the laboratory.Several other projects that were budgeted for in 2010 have either not been completed or never commenced.Minister Singh when he indicated that the Budget will be presented tomorrow said that, as is the norm, the Budget will report on economic performances over the past year. In this instance, that report can be expected to be a very favourable one, given the continued resilience shown by the economy.The Budget is also expected to project continued strong performance by the domestic economy in 2011, and to reflect Government’s continued emphasis on investment in physical infrastructure and in expanding and improving social services, all with the aim of advancing the transformation that is already well underway in Guyana.Budget 2010 was presented by Minister Singh in February last under the theme “Consolidate, Transform,Wholesale Jerseys China, Sustain”, and was pegged at $142.8B, representing a 10.8 percent increase over the 2009 budget.In his 2010 mid-year report on the economy, Dr Singh reported that the economy recorded real growth of 2.8 percent in the first half of the year, with non-sugar gross domestic product expanding by 3.1 percent.“This very positive result was achieved despite persistent difficulties in the sugar industry, continued adverse movement in commodity prices, and the effects of the sliding Euro.”Dr Singh also stated in the 2010 mid-year report that the domestic economy’s favourable performance demonstrated the strong underlying fundamentals on which the economy rests, and reflects gains made over the years as a result of Government’s efforts at diversifying the sources of growth. |
