Budget 2025 lacks sustainable poverty and cost-of-living solutions -Jordan

Describing the $1.3 Trillion Budget as one that ignores the plight of the poor and working class, former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan said the “hodgepodge” of measures included in National Budget will not address poverty, nor the plethora of challenges confronting the poor.

Appearing on PNC’s programme “Nation Watch” on Sunday, Mr. Jordan, who is an Economist and also a former Budget Director, said the one-off $100,000 cash grant, and minute adjustments made to the country’s tax structures will not significantly address poverty. He said there should have been more measures contained in the budget to address the everyday hardships being faced by citizens.

“48% poverty cannot be solved by a one-off cash grant. 48% poverty cannot be solved by an increase in the threshold from $100,000 to $130,000. Poverty cannot be attacked by small increases in old age pension. So, you see all these short-term things, while it is recognizable while recognizable, and perhaps while needed as temporary relief, poverty has to be resolved ultimately by long term policies, by structural reorientation of the economy, by the creation of permanent jobs of high income, by substantial and measurable improvement in areas of education, health, and so on, while equitable distribution of resources, income and so forth,” Jordan said.

In an effort to cushion the impact of the steep rise in the cost-of-living, the Government has been allocating billions of dollars to address the cost-of-living woes.

This year, the Government has set aside $9 billion to address cost of living issues.

Mr. Jordan said through the years, the Government has failed to provide a clear plan for the utilization of the money, and he has called on the Office of the Auditor General to investigate the use of the fund.

He said the Government continues to direct a significant portion of the budget to infrastructure without any clear plan.

“They will end up doing the same thing as they were doing since 2020. Which is the biggest budget every year, the bulk of which targets infrastructure, that infrastructure. That infrastructure, be poorly executed a lot of its not derived from any infrastructural plan,” he said.

The former Minister of Finance said the budget is not grounded in any medium to long term national development plan. He said Guyanese deserve better, and the government can afford to provide better support to the Guyanese people now that the county has one of the fastest growing economies thanks to its booming oil sector.