Norton seeks answers on Government's $40 Billion Supplementary request after $1.1 Trillion Budget

The Opposition APNU+AFC sees the Government’s move to the National Assembly seeking $40 Billion in supplementary provisions to be the result of poor planning and mismanagement.

Last week, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, presented two Financial Papers to the National Assembly seeking Supplementary Estimates (Current) in relation to advances made from the Contingency Fund totaling $8.6 Billion between the 1st April and the 30th July, and Supplementary Estimates (Current and Capital) totaling $32.2 Billion for the period ending the 31st December 2024.

The return for supplementary funding came six months after a $1.1 Trillion budget was approved by the National Assembly.

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton said from all indications, the Government will be returning for even more supplementary funding before the year is out.

“The more the PPP government spends, the more money is lost through poor planning, mismanagement, and corruption. The IMF estimates these losses at between 40 to 50% for every dollar spent. Therefore, in the 2024 budget currently at $1.146T, the Guyanese people will lose hundreds of billions of dollars. The PPP is inherently incapable of seeing this as the crisis it is”, the Opposition Leader noted.

***Senior Minister responsible for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh***

Mr. Norton said the PPPC administration appears to be ignoring a recommendation from the IMF for a strong and effective public financial management system and a robust public investment management framework. Instead, he said there appears to be no policy from the Government to reduce this massive loss in public funds.

“Instead, we are presented with a bloated budget on Budget Day and several supplementary budgets throughout the year. It is now a well-settled fact that tens of billions of dollars are lost to the PPP’s elite, friends, families and favorites, through their corruption network, and further tens of billions lost through incompetence in the form of poor planning and mismanagement”, Norton noted.

The Opposition Leader said there needs to be an investigation into how ,monies are spent since no checks and balances seem to be in place. He said Money lost through corruption and incompetence is money that could have gone to increase wages and provide cost of living relief.