GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (DPI) – Attorney General and minister of legal affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, has lauded the 2025 national fiscal plan, praising its people centred approach, bold initiatives, and sustainable development focus.
On Friday last, the senior minister in the office of the president with responsibility for finance and the public service, Dr Ashni Singh presented the $1.138 trillion budget in the National Assembly.
Speaking on the ‘Budget in Focus’ programme aired on the National Communications Network (NCC) on Saturday, minister Nandlall said this is the first time in the country’s history that a financial injection of this magnitude will be poured into the economy.
Dr Singh said wherever Guyanese are located this massive injection will positively impact their lives since most of it will be spent on infrastructural, socioeconomic, and service-oriented sectors.
“Hundreds of thousands of workers will benefit. Whether you’re selling water or you’re selling homes, whether you are in the service industry, the agricultural industry, or the technological industry…Whichever industry you are engaged in, this money will be spent in that area and those who are participating at whatever level in the activity will benefit from it,” Dr Singh assured.
The 2025 budget is anchored by an aggregated $90 billion in relief measures intended to reduce the cost of living and increase disposable income for thousands of Guyanese.
Key highlights include the increase in old-age pension to $41,000 and public assistance from $19,000 to $22,000, a $10,000 universal health voucher, and a one-off cash grant of $100,000 for babies born to Guyanese mothers.
Some $9 billion has been earmarked for targeted interventions to support Guyanese as they battle the global rise in the cost of living.
The attorney general also highlighted the reduction in freight charges, the maintenance of the zero per cent excise tax on petroleum products, and the abolition of tolls on the Berbice River Bridge. The same is required for the Wismar Bridge and the new Demerara River Crossing when they are completed.
“You will hear the argument that ‘we have oil and therefore you have money’. And the answer to that is, yes. We have an additional revenue stream, which we didn’t have before. But what are we doing with the money?
The largest chunk of that revenue is being spent to improve Guyana infrastructurally in terms of providing the requisite social services, health, education, water, housing, and doing every other thing to which the budget makes reference,” the legal affairs minister declared.
Dr Singh reminded viewers that the government has prided itself on its credibility and has worked assiduously to earn the trust of the Guyanese people by fulfilling the promises made in its election manifesto.
Every single one of the manifesto promises has already been fulfilled. Attorney General Nandlall said this generation of Guyanese is the most fortunate, as they are witnessing developments that their forefathers dreamt of and worked for.
“This is something we must not take for granted. The new revenue stream that we have gotten is Guyana’s blessing. And every Guyanese is entitled to benefit from this. It is the people’s resources and that is why the budget does not in any form or fashion discriminate. It embraces every Guyanese from birth to death,” the senior counsel emphasised.
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