Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, on Friday rebutted Opposition Members of Parliament from both the WIN party and the APNU, who cited a poverty rate in Guyana of 58% during their Budget debate presentations.
A recently published report has stated that based on data available up to 2021, the country’s poverty rate stands at 58%.
The matter became a talking point during the Budget debates last week, with a number of Opposition MPs chastising the Government for taking little action to bring relief for those living on the poverty line.
But in wrapping up the Budget Debate, the Minister responsible for Finance said the figures reflect the country’s poverty rate during the former APNU+AFC government.
“For those who need to be reminded the period 2016- 2018 fell squarely during the APNU-AFC’s tenure in government and 2021 was in the heart of the Covid-19 shut down. Mr. Speaker the report is clear, it says 2016-2018, so that poverty statistics that they were trotting out was on APNU-AFC legacy,” the finance minister said.
APNU Parliamentary lead, Terrence Campbell, who rose during the Finance Minister’s presentation said the numbers might even be higher now, alleging that the Government officials are refusing to subject themselves to the process on the new round of interviews that were being conducted to assess to country’s poverty level.
“Mr. Speaker, it is convenient to continue to repeat the misrepresentation and it is this convenience and now ingrain habit of misrepresentation that could go on and on but we have a labour market survey that shown how income has risen and how employment has grown and how unemployment has been halve,” the Finance Minister stated.
He noted that government will continuously roll out measures to improve the lives of Guyanese.
“We will continue to spend every single day, for the next five years to ensure that the people of Guyana see steady and sustainable improvements in their lives and to ensure that our country does not end up down the abysmal path of becoming captured by Pablo and the likes of Pablo,” the finance minister said.
Further, the Finance Minister also defended his Budget which was presented two weeks ago, saying that it will push government’s developmental agenda and social programmes.
Additionally, he said with the country’s solid economic performance last year, it is expected that the economy will further grow this year as the Government seeks to prudently manage spending.
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