As the country reels from the effects of the five-month political impasse and COVID-19 restrictions, the PPP/C government yesterday said that it is hoping to bring some financial relief with its 2020 budget in early September.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is assisting with oversight of the financial sector in the absence of a substantive Minister of Finance, yesterday told a news conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre that the traditional preparation process has been slashed to 21 days.
“The reason why this is so is because the country and the help the people need in many of the sectors can’t be made available to them unless we have an early budget,” he said, and explained that a Minister of Finance could be named soon but he did not rule out that the Budget could be presented by him when Parliament resumes.