The Private Sector Com-mission (PSC) yesterday congratulated Finance Minister Winston Jordan and the new APNU/AFC government on a “comprehensive” budget 2015 but it voiced disappointment at the decision to discontinue work on the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.
The PSC in a statement said that it believes that the allocations in Monday’s budget to the sugar and rice industries will allow them to regroup and recover so that they can make significant contributions to the economy. The assistance to small and medium scale miners will also allow that sector, which it said has produced the bulk of exports in recent years, to adjust to the lower gold prices.
The PSC also welcomed the allocation of monies for roads, bridges, air and river transport and particularly the refurbishing of hinterland airstrips.
“The PSC is also particularly pleased about the allocation of financing for the dredging of the Demerara harbour, the siltation of which has for years led to increased shipping costs and therefore impacted the competitiveness of our exports and the final prices of imports”, the statement said.
The PSC said that it is pleased at the Minister’s plans to cut the red tape which stymies business activity. The PSC called on the Minister to ensure that there is greater inter-agency coordination to facilitate this.
Also welcomed by the PSC was the salary and wage increases for the public service and especially the “significant increase” in old age pensions. It said that the removal of taxes on NIS contributions is also welcome.
Disappointment was however expressed at the decision to discontinue the Amaila Falls Hydroelec-tricity Project and the PSC urged the government to seek alternate renewable energy sources as the high cost of energy continues to be a stumbling block in the way of the production of value-added goods and the expansion of the manufacturing sector.
The PSC also noted the decision to lower tolls for the Berbice River Bridge and said it hopes that this was done within the terms of the Public- Private Partnership agreement.
It also welcomed the VAT zero-rating of a range of goods with a bias towards locally manufactured products and said it believes that this is an acceptable method of providing relief to consumers without having to lower the VAT rate.
“The Commission, though it had proposed a number of priority areas for reform of taxation system, is satisfied that this could not have been comprehensively attempted in an interim budget and will await the release of the results of the Tax Committee’s deliberations”, the PSC added.
