Government seeking $84.5 Billion in additional supplementary funding

By Svetlana Marshall

The Government, through Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh returned to the National Assembly today for additional sums totaling $84.5 Billion.

Minister Singh, today, presented two Financial Papers to the National Assembly totaling just over $84.5 Billion.

Financial Paper No. 3 of 2024 amounted to approximately $456.8M in advances taken from the Contingency Fund. It included provisions for subsides and contributions to Local Organizations by the Office of the President totaling $84.4M and financial provisions for security services provided to the Ministry of Education, amounting to some $119.8M and similar services provided to Region One and Region 6, totaling $111.3M and $141.7M respectively.

Meanwhile, Financial Paper No. 4 of 2024 totals approximately $84.074B in supplementary funding being sought for both capital and recurrent projects.

It includes, under the Office of the Prime Minister, $25.3B for the Gas-to-Energy Project.

According to the Financial Paper, the additional sum is intended to provide additional resources to facilitate payments as a result of accelerated implementation. It complements the $80B, which was approved by the National Assembly at the beginning of the year during the passage of the $1.1 Trillion Budget.

Under the Office of the Prime Minister, the Government is also asking the National Assembly to approve an additional $422.8M for a small hydro project that is being executed with funding from the Islamic Development Bank.

The Government is also asking for an additional $2.9B for National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) under the Ministry of Agriculture to facilitate an expanded work programme, and an additional $138M for the Demerara Harbour Bridge, $51.8M for road expansion, and $33.9M for ferry vessel and stellings, all under the Ministry of Public Works.

Additionally, $8.4B is being sought for the Ministry of Housing and Water under Infrastructural Development and Buildings ($6.5B) and Coastal Water Supply ($1.9B).

Meanwhile, an additional $4.5B is being sought for the Ministry of Health to support its HIV/TB/Malaria Programme as well as its Health Sector Improvement Programme.

The sum also includes provisions for a number of the administrative regions and other government ministries.

The additional financial papers come just months after the National Assembly approved an additional $40B in supplementary funding for the Government since its $1.1 Trillion budget.