Govt seeks more money for COVID 19 relief among other sums today
Today the Government will be seeking the approval of the National Assembly for $2.5 Billion for what it says is “payment of COVID-19 relief for households initiate, it is also seeking some $6 billion to clear the arrears to the Guyana Power and Light Company and $4 billion for “capital contribution to Guysuco.
These sums are part of three financial papers that total more than $20 billion. One of the three papers cover sums under various ministries that were expended in 2019.
The opposition coalition in a statement on Sunday night signalled its intention not to support the supplementary financial papers as it said it has concerns.
The APNU AFC coalition said that the request comes on December 28th, three days before the end of the financial year, “it is ludicrous and outrageous” the coalition said, “there is no way that the PPP regime can legitimately expend $17.4 billion in three days,” it added as it asked by there is a rush to spend the monies.
The coalition said too that, there is a there is a request for an approval of some $792 million from the contingency fund but said that the sum has been spent by the government from October to December of 2020, “this is despicable as the much-touted PPP budget for 2020 was approved in the National Assembly in September,” the opposition said.
Additionally the coalition said that the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act says that the Finance Minister must be satisfied of an “urgent unavoidable and unforeseen need for expenditure” and which “cannot be deferred without injury to the public interest.” There is no issue for which supplementary funding is being sought that meets these criteria at coalition pointed out.
