Introduction
Two fundamental considerations take pride of place in the substantive evaluation of Guyana’s government budget, 2011 and therefore provide a logical starting point for my forthcoming columns. The first consideration is the integrity of the data, information, calculations and statistics which inform the three principal tasks of the budget, namely: 1) to review the economy for the period of the previous budget (in this case 2010) 2); to indicate the outlays and revenue measures for the budget period (2011); and 3) to estimate the impacts on the performance of the economy of the proposed measures and targets.
The second consideration is the requirement to contextualize the budget in terms of the size of the government after taking into account all of its activities. Because government activity is at the cost of citizens’ share of the national economy Guyanese should consider three options, namely: is the overall activity of the government too much, too little or, just right?
Both of these considerations will be addressed at the outset.
The integrity of the national accounts data
Last September-October 2010, I devoted several Sunday columns to the discussion of the indication in the 2010 Budget