Commentator Christopher Ram yesterday pilloried the government’s plans for massive hikes in the domestic and external debt ceilings and a steep rise in extractions from the NRF even as the Ministry of Finance sought to defend the move.
Ram in a letter in yesterday’s Stabroek News noted that Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh has kept his Budget Speech promise to come back to the National Assembly to a) raise the debt ceiling b) to revise upward the NRF withdrawal rule and c) saving an increasing share of the inflows into the Fund. Earlier on Friday, via the Fiscal Enactments (Amendment) Bill 2024 Ram said that the Minister delivered more than even his most ardent supporter would have expected.
He said that the Minister proposes to increase the borrowing ceiling for Public (Domestic) Loans by 100% from G$750,000 Mn. to G$1,500,000 Mn. and the borrowing ceiling for External Loans by 66.7% from G$900,000 Mn. to G$1,500,000 Mn.