Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday announced that Guyana ‘s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 33% for the year 2023.
He made this announcement during his more than five-hour-long Budget 2024 presentation themed “Staying the course building prosperity for all”.
He said that the country’s GDP witness-ed such growth due to the expansion of the thriving oil and gas sector.
The non-oil economy grew by 11.7 per cent, due to advances in construction, agriculture, forestry, fishing and as well as the mining sector.
“This is testament to the significant development in these sectors and our government’s vision by ensuring that these sectors experience significant advancement..” Singh told the National Assembly.
The sugar sub sector experienced a 28% increase.
The Extractive Industries according to the Minister witnessed a 42.6 percent growth.
The oil and gas industry witnessed an increase of 45.9 percent but gold and bauxite declined respectively by 11.2 and 20.4 percent.
Quarrying Materials, such as Stone, Diamond, Sand and Manganese all saw an increase of 22.7 percent.
The Subject Finance Minister is adamant that these sectors will witness a significant increase for 2024.
Notably, the construction sector expanded by 26.8 percent.
He said his government was able to successfully manage inflation despite supply chain restrictions and disruptions in the global market due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia/ Ukraine war.
Against this backdrop Singh said that his administration was able to introduce provisional measures for citizens primarily public servants to alleviate high living costs.
$97.6 billion has been budgeted for the Agriculture Sector in 2024.
$6 billion in budgetary allocations will go towards the Guyana Sugar Corporation according to Minister Singh.
$1.3 billion will go towards the advancement of the rice industry, $78 million for the coconut industry and $2.6 billion to advance the production of high value crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and bell peppers.
An additional budgetary allocation of $967.8 million will be go towards the development of the Tacama Facility In Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) where corn and soya is being produced on a large scale.
He said this sum aids in the advance-ment of the corporation’s operating capa-city i.e. (human and physical resources).
$204.1 billion will be allocated towards the Ministry of Public Works whereas $73.2 billion will go towards the development of community roads in respective administrative regions.
$6.9 billion in budgetary provisions will go towards advancing Guyana’s sea defence structures in communities such as Bygeval, Cane Garden, Fairfield and Springlands.
Still on the Ministry of Public Works, approximately $2.3 billion will go towards air transport to facilitate maintenance of Ekereku, Eteringbang, Karisparu and Pariuma airstrips.
Under the category of road and bridges $19.7 billion will be allocated towards the construction of the New Demerara River Bridge.
$8.1 Billion will be allocated towards Guyana’s improvement in sea and river transportation according to Singh.
Turning his attention to energy expansion and diversification, he said that $95.7 billion in budgetary provisions will go towards the energy sector.
$1.3 billion will go towards the completion of the mini-hydropower facilities in Kumu and Moco- Moco in Region Nine.
For the health sector, $129.8 billion will be allocated.
Singh said that an additional sum of $10.3 billion will go towards the construction of what he termed “the world class paediatric and maternal hospital” at Ogle ( East Coast Demerara).
$6.2 billion will go towards the construction of the state-of-the-art New Amsterdam Hospital.
$15.5 billion will be applied towards the advancement and construction of six regional hospitals in communities such as Bath, De Kinderen, Diamond, Lima and No.75 village.
$10 billion in budgetary allocations will go towards the upgrade of hospitals in Bartica, Suddie and West Demerara according to Singh.
$1.5 billion in budgetary allocations will be earmarked for the construction of hospitals at Kamarang, Kato, and Moruca.
According to Singh, in the 2024 fiscal plan $5 billion will go towards retrofitting health centres, facilities and posts including the provision of 25 telemedicine sites in hinterland communities.
$1.4 billion will go towards the construction of two health science training facilities at New Amsterdam and Suddie.
$3.8 billion will also go towards boosting the capabilities to detect and combat cervical cancer, Singh disclosed.
The Education Sector will receive a sum of $135.2 Billion according to Singh.
He informed that $28.7 billion will go towards the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of school and educational facilities.
An additional sum of $8.1 billion will be assigned to the Because We Care Cash grant and uniform grant from which 205,000 children are slated to benefit.
He added that $3.1 billion will go towards the distribution of Education Ministry’s school grants.
$4.9 billion will go towards the continuation of the National School Feeding Programme, followed by $3 billion in budgetary allocations towards the purchasing of more textbooks for primary and secondary schools.
$4.1 billion is expected to go towards supporting operations at the University of Guyana which is the country’s premier tertiary institution.
$4 billion will be assigned to the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) to support 6,000 new students and 3,967 continuing students, according to Singh.
“$350 million will be allocated for the bulk licensing arrangement with COURSERA to train approximately 450,000 persons in a wide range of areas where skill gaps exist” , the minister announced.
$735 million in budgetary allocations will go towards the training of 1,000 young persons in relevant aspects of information and communication technology (ICT) to take up outsourced jobs in this sector and more so ICT-based nearshore jobs , according to the Finance Minister.
Singh added that $2.3 billion will be allocated to support the continuity of Technical and Vocational Education.
$78 Billion has been budgeted in the 2024 fiscal plan to develop housing infrastructure countrywide under the Housing sector.
$22.5 billion has been budgeted for water quality and supply systems countrywide.
Under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports , $2.7 billion will go towards the continuous development of culture and arts while $4.6 billion will be allocated towards the advancement of sports locally.
