Daily Features

On Friday, 12 February 2021, the Minister responsible for Finance presented to the National Assembly the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the fiscal year 2021.

By Honor Ford-Smith Associate Professor, Cultural and Artistic Practices for Environmental and Social Justice Associate Director, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean York University, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change What do you want for your cities, your villages, your communities, this region that is our home, the home of our children’s futures?

There are many stories that can begin with ‘Once upon a time…’ Like those the oceans hold.

From the beginning of racism, colorism has existed; that is not an opinion, it is a fact.

Black history month, White history always Only you can decide if this PNC meeting did take place as is about to be described.

Introduction Budget Speech 2021 was presented by Dr. Ashni Singh, who recently returned to Guyana after a number of years in international employment following the 2015 elections.

Set out below are the principal announcements by the Minister on the economic performance in 2020 and the projections for 2021.

Economic Performance The Minister reported that Global output in 2020 is estimated to have contracted by 3.5 percent and in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, economic output is estimated to have contracted by 7.4 percent in 2020.

This first full-year budget of the PPP/C since resuming office, is themed “A Path to Recovery, Economic Dynamism and Resilience”.

Growth Real GDP is expected to grow by 20.9% while the non-oil GDP is projected to grow by 6.1%.

The current balance projects a surplus of $2,609 million, a reversal of $23,046 million over revised 2020.

Analysis of expenditure Introduction Based on the priorities of the Government as set out in its Policies and Targets, the Cabinet, which recommends the Estimates, seeks the approval of the National Assembly for the allocation of the funds.

In this section we summarise and comment on the 2021 Budget measures in the Budget speech.

In the introduction to this focus we referred to the right of a fair return defence of the petroleum agreement by President Ali, which marks a significant change by the Administration whose 2020 elections manifesto promoted renegotiation.

Earlier this year the General Manager reported that the country’s National Insurance Scheme ended 2019 with a deficit of $1.503 billion.

One day before Budget 2021 was presented, the National Assembly passed legislation to amend the Law Reform Commission Act, the principal purpose of which is to keep under review the laws of Guyana for the purpose of their simplification, modernisation, systematic development and reform.

Like in the 2020 Budget, the impact of the COVID – 19 Pandemic featured highly in the 2021 Budget.

The crying crowds have gone, even as the candle-lit vigils continue across the country and  overseas.

Installment 2021-2 As of January 26, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requires all air passengers entering the United States (including U.S.

Despite its long and illustrious history of trade unionism and its socialist pretensions, as a country we have signally failed to provide to our workers what could be considered a living wage.