For 2018, the Ministry of Finance is recomending $815 million less than what has been sought by the Guyana Elections Commisison (Gecom).
Next year, local government elections are due and there would have to be substantial outlays by Gecom. The $2.9 billion that the Finance Ministry is recommending for 2018 is close to the $3 billion that was spent by Gecom at the historic 2016 local government elections.
Minister of Finance Winston Jordan on Thursday submitted for the approval of the National Assembly the 2018 Annual Budget Proposal of Consitutional Agencies.
While the 16 Consitutional Agencies have submitted budgets totalling more than $10 billion, their requests are accommanied by the recommenations of the Minister of Finance, which reduces their requests to just over $8 billion in total.