News

Schools, large bands and other steel pan groups are gearing up for the Annual Republic Bank Pan-O-Rama Steel Pan Competition on February 25 and 28 as part of this year’s Mashramani events.

A Linden man was yesterday remanded to prison, after he was charged with possession of narcotics in a West Berbice Court.

A national protocol for Child Advocacy Centres (CACs), which was signed in December, will see ensure uniformity in their operations and procedures, a press release from the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said.

Focus on Guyana’s National Budget 2016 represents the twenty-sixth edition of this Ram & McRae annual publication which highlights, reviews and comments on the major issues surrounding and raised in the National Budget.

Financial Review Current Revenue earned in 2015 of $161,710 million was $1,941.4 million short of budget.

As a matter of convenience this section highlights unresolved issues from pronouncements of earlier years and is presented in three parts – National issues, Campaign promises, and Pronouncements by the Minister of Finance in the 2015 Budget.

Policy issues The Minister of Finance Mr. Winston Jordan presented the second budget of the APNU/AFC Coalition – with the theme “Stimulating Growth, Restoring Confidence: The Good Life Beckons”and anchored on five pillars: National Unity, National Infrastructure, National Institutions, National Security and Public Services.

GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) – The World Health Organisation yesterday declared the mosquito-borne Zika virus an international public health emergency due to its link to thousands of birth defects in Brazil, as the UN agency sought to build a global response to the threat.

The Government’s projected Financial Plan for 2016 is summarised and tabled on page ___ of this Publication.

Current Non-Interest Expenditure In this section we consider how the budgeted expenditure is allocated among the principal Ministries, Departments, Regions and Programmes.

GENEVA/BEIRUT/ROME (Reuters) – The United Nations announced the formal start of peace talks for Syria yesterday and urged world powers to push for a ceasefire even as government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, launched their biggest offensive north of Aleppo in a year.

KAMPALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Uganda dispatched a team of more than 370 health workers to the northern part of the country yesterday where a malaria epidemic ravaging the region since July has killed about 658 people.

Section 6 of the 2016 Budget Speech contains thirty paragraphs of Budget measures, some of which are regulatory rather than fiscal.

ROME (Reuters) – Nearly two dozen nations gather today to plot their fight against the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq and how to choke off its rise in Libya.

ATHENS (Reuters) – “What did I do? I didn’t do anything,” asked Emilia Kamvisi, an 85-year-old grandmother from the Greek island of Lesbos, when she heard she’d been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The opposition will not submit nominees for membership on some state boards unless government assures that it will not be involved in their running, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday.

ROME (Reuters) – Pope Francis is expected to appear in a spiritual film aimed at children, Italian producers said yesterday, but the Vatican said the pontiff will not be acting.

Pension costs are rising in Guyana. The NIS was driven to near crisis as pension costs kept soaring.

Budget Focus welcomes the early presentation of the 2016 Budget and looks forward to the practise to the early years of independence when budgets were prepared before the end of the year.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s top health official said yesterday that the Zika virus outbreak is proving to be worse than believed because most cases show no symptoms, but improved testing should allow the country to get a better grip on the burgeoning public health crisis.