Minister of Finance Winston Jordan yesterday began consultations for Budget 2016.
A release from the Ministry of Finance said that Jordan and a high level team from the Ministry led by Finance Secretary Dr. Hector Butts, met with Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Major General (Rtd) Norman Mc Lean and other representatives of the PSC in the morning.
Among the issues raised was the private sector’s concern about the present state of the economy.
In response, Jordan said that information coming out of the Bureau of Statistics shows that the outlook for the economy remains positive for the rest of the year while acknowledging that the first half of the year was affected by a downturn that began in 2014.
Jordan added that the latest Bank of Guyana statistics show that private sector credit and production have seen positive growth for the period January to October and projected that this growth will continue into the final quarter of this year. Real Estate Mortgage loans have also risen by 12 percent, and Construction and Engineering by 9 percent.
The PSC welcomed the news that Private Sector Credit had risen by 6 percent between January and September.
Jordan, the release said, told the PSC that the government was pursuing new markets for rice to which there have been very encouraging responses.
The PSC, the release said raised challenges with the VAT Refunds system employed by the GRA, to which the Minister pointed to the functioning Tax Reform Commission as well as the impending audit of the entity that will ensure that the challenges raised will be addressed satisfactorily.
The Minister also said that his Ministry was working with the Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, to improve the ease of doing business in Guyana.
The release added that the PSC welcomed the improvements being made at Go-Invest to make it a truly ‘one stop agency’ but cautioned that the “bureaucratic malaise of the past should not be continued.”
The private sector also advised that the recent expansion of airlift for cargo out of Guyana should be seen as an opportunity to boost diversification of the agriculture sector into fresh fruits and vegetables. They urged Government to invest in laboratories and other facilities that would ensure certification and accreditation.
The PSC ventilated other issues for consideration in the 2016 budget including corporate, personal and property taxes – written submissions on these had been sent to the Tax Reform Commission; interior roads and airstrips; export marketing support; liberalization of the telecommunications sector and the National Competitiveness Strategy.
On the question of airstrips, Jordan informed the PSC that funding has already been approved for the upgrade of two airstrips and talks are ongoing with international funding agencies for the upgrade of several others.
Jordan and the PSC agreed to meet quarterly.
