Offering a glimpse of its plans if re-elected for a second term, President Irfaan Ali today pledged to bring down the cost of living, reduce taxes, fuel growth and create more job opportunities for Guyanese.

The President joined the Vice President and other officials of the governing People’s Progressive Party today for a consultation on the party’s 2025 Manifesto.

In an effort to fuel growth and development in the country, President Ali said his new Government would establish a Development Bank to finance Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SMEs).

 “We want to establish a development bank to support co-financing, to support access to liquidity, to reduce the cost of borrowing and to remove the collateral requirement because these are the burdens that the small and medium sized enterprises face today. So, if you are able to match lending with a zero percent interest rate, we can bring down the interest rate in the commercial bank from 6% or 7% to 3% for SMEs. And then when we remove the risks by making the matching rate available, the banks in turn will have to reduce that collateral requirement that is there right now,” President Ali said.

Hoping to be re-elected, Mr. Ali further committed to opening up 100,000 acres of farm lands for cultivation and invest in agro-processing hubs, and the manufacturing and services sector.

He assured that with the completion of the multi-billion dollar Gas-to-Energy Project at Wales, the cost of production in the country will be significantly reduced, creating a conducive environment for the manufacturing sector to flourish.

“One of our most inhibitive factors in dealing with value creation is the cost of energy. Today, we are on the journey of resolving the issue of cost of energy. Once we have that low cost energy, manufacturing, industrial development, agro-processing and all of those opportunities will come on stream,” the President said.

He said value creation is what will take Guyana to the next level.

The President also said that should the PPP/C be re-elected, his Administration would maintain a favourable fiscal regime and as such there will be no increases in royalties, no Tributors tax and no VAT on heavy machinery, particularly for those operating in the mining sector.

In general, he is hoping to lower taxes, particularly the taxes on four-door-pick-ups.

“We will have a special mechanism through which four door vehicles, four door pickups will come with lower taxes…We will pursue a taxation system that will lower the tax burden, improve tax compliance and put more money back in your pocket,” the President said.

However, he cautioned that when taxes are lowered, citizens must ensure that they are tax compliant.

He said such a move would create greater value for citizens to benefit from other incentives that will assist in the generation of wealth.

The other plans include working with investors to revitalize the bauxite industry, and creating jobs, and reviewing of the Local Content framework to allow more opportunities for Guyanese businesses and nationals. (Svetlana Marshall)

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