National Assembly approves $84 billion supplementary funding

Early this morning the National Assembly approved $84 billion in supplementary funding for work programmes under several ministries and agencies.

The bills were presented by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh, and defended by the respective ministers during the 89^th sitting of the Twelfth Parliament.

The bills comprise Financial Paper No 3, which contained advances from the Contingency Fund amounting to over $456.8 million for the period November 7 to November 22, 2024.

For this paper, financial resources were secured to meet operational costs for the Guyana Office of Investment and Protected Areas Commission, and to meet increased security costs.

Financial Paper No. 4, covers a Supplementary Estimate of over $84 billion, for both capital and current expenditure, amounting to $42.5 billion and $41.5 billion respectively. This bill is for the period ending December 31, 2024.

Key highlights of the bill include the over $56 billion provision under the Office of the Prime Minister, of which $30.5 billion was approved for the cash grant distribution to every citizen above 18 years of age.

Approximately $51 million has also been set aside for the provision of additional resources for the operations of the Mahdia Power and Light Company.

Further, $9.2 million was approved for the expanded work programme under the Disaster Preparedness, Response and Management framework.

For the Wales gas to energy project, some $25.3 billion were allocated.

The sum of $123 million was approved under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to advance Guyana’s humanitarian efforts in the Caribbean region and further afield.

National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) gets $5 billion to fortify drainage infrastructure nationwide. This includes the procurement of mini and amphibious excavators to support flood-prone communities, amounting to over $2 billion.

$8.4 billion was for Ministry of Housing and Water for development of housing schemes and the coastal water supply programme.

$4.5 billion was approved for the Ministry of Health for the construction of the six regional hospitals in Lima, De Kendren, Diamond, Enmore, Bath and No. 75 Village, as well as to initiate works on regional hospitals at Lethem, Moruca and Kato. Another $3.6 billion was granted to support the provision of drugs and medical supplies.

$1.2 billion was approved to support the operations of the University of Guyana. Last month, President Irfaan Ali announced the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will respect the constitutional right of individuals to free education from nursery to university. In 1994  the PPP/C government took away this right. 

Article 27, in the Constitution of Guyana expressly states “Every citizen has the right to free education from nursery to university as well as to non-formal places where opportunities are provided for education and training.”