His Excellency Dr. Irfaan Ali said that in addition to laying the foundation and establishing the framework through which the development and expansion of our country will take place, Budget 2022 is also designed to enhance the welfare of all Guyanese.
The Head of State, during a virtual briefing at State House today, focused on key sectors and how programmes and policies will impact the lives of families. Emphasis was placed on agriculture and food security, ICT, health, education, infrastructure, energy sustainability, tourism and small business support.
MORE DISPOSABLE INCOME IN POCKETS
“The investments in the various sectors ultimately are about jobs, the creation of wealth, revenue and more disposable income for the people of the country.”
The President reminded that all of the vital attributes of Budget 2022 are geared towards laying the groundwork through which the development and expansion of the country will take place.
“This is how a government takes care of the needs of its people.”
To illustrate, he pointed to measures to be implemented in several sectors, including the energy sector, and the positive effects all of the planned interventions will have.
“No doubt, this is our greatest opportunity not only for energy security but for creating an energy platform that would bring the jobs of the future…imagine how many jobs will be created during and after construction of our hydro and natural gas energy facilities; imagine what a reduction of 50% in your electricity costs will do for you; imagine what our new shorelines will look like; imagine what our own agrochemical plant will do; imagine what our own fertiliser plant will do for the agriculture sector; imagine what our own LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) plant will do. Well, my friends, 2022 brings that imagination to life – as the seeds are now planted to realise all of this.”
The Head of State also explained the impacts of several projects and investments, including the $6b allocated to GuySuCo, which he said transcends sugar production.
“The transfer of this $6 billion would be directly supporting thousands of jobs and directly and indirectly supporting tens of thousands of jobs for tens of thousands of families. That is what is important, not only the investment, how it is linked to supporting an industry that creates jobs, that sustains jobs. Importantly, these are jobs that were not there prior to August 2, 2020.”
SEIZING THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY
President Ali called on all citizens to recognise that not only is this our greatest opportunity for the transformation of our country but to recognise that Budget 2022 paves the way for that development.
‘This is how Budget 2022 affects the lives of people directly, affects the lives and communities directly; this is how it is linked to the people directly, that it is why it is a people-centred budget. This is the power of Budget 2022; this is the power that Budget 2022 gives to the people; this is the energy that Budget 2022 brings to the country and its people. This is how it is linked to you, my brothers and sisters; this is how it is linked to you fellow Guyanese; this is how you can relate to Budget 2022.”
INTEGRATION AND TRANSFORMATION
Guyanese were also urged to recognise that the development agenda is not only geared towards physical transformation but towards a holistic development.
“So my dear Guyanese brothers and sisters, I just wanted us all to have a greater appreciation as to how this budget is related to our day-to-day lives, how this budget is related to our communities, how this budget is related to our country, the development, the forward trajectory, where we want to take it.”
