After hours of vigorous scrutiny, the National Assembly on Wednesday approved the government’s second trillion-dollar budget, securing financial resources to pivot transformation across various sectors, including crucial measures to support the Guyanese people.
The Appropriation Bill No.1 of 2025 was passed at the 100th sitting, following five-days of debates and four days of Committee of Supply deliberations, in which parliamentarians carefully scrutinized budgetary allocations for each agency.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh presented the $1.382 trillion budget on January 17, under the theme ‘A Secure, Prosperous and Sustainable Guyana.’
It is 20.6 per cent larger than last year’s fiscal framework, which was $1.146 trillion, and is financed by no new taxes. It contains US$2.5 billion in oil and gas revenues.
Notably, the framework is anchored by a suite of relief measures, intended to support hard workers, households and families, by placing additional disposable income into their pockets.
For instance, with the passage of the budget, old-age pension will now increase from $36,000 to $41,000, injecting $4.5 billion into the hands of over 76,000 pensioners nationwide.
Persons living with disabilities and other vulnerable persons will enjoy an increase in their public assistance, from $19,000 to $22,000, placing $1.4 billion into the pockets of 40,000 individuals.
A $10,000 universal health voucher is set to benefit about 500,000 Guyanese at a total cost of $5 billion, ensuring they live a healthier lifestyle.
Also, mothers with new born babies are eligible for a one-off cash grant from the government, totalling $100,000.
To ensure greater financial empowerment of families, the Income Tax Threshold will now be increased from $100,000 to $130,000 monthly, adding $8.5 billion in disposable income and removing 22,000 persons from the tax net.
Also, those persons who earn overtime for work beyond their normal working hours, the first $50,000 monthly of their overtime would be non-taxable. For those who have a second job in addition to their full-time primary job, the first $50,000 of income earned monthly from their second job would be non-taxable.
To further increase the disposable income of parents, the government will introduce a provision whereby, for each child, one parent would be allowed to claim $10,000 monthly of their income as non-taxable.
During the budget debates, Minister Singh outlined that these suite of tax measures ensures every family with two children is able to benefit from at least $1.8 million of tax free income annually.
The Because We Care education grant will also provide relief to parents and their children, as it has now increased from $45,000 to $50,000. Together with the BWC Student Grant, the uniform voucher allowance of $5,000, parents of over 205,000 school children will be receiving a total of $55,000 per child, with an estimated $11 billion being transferred to parents and their children.
Moreover, it contains crucial allocations aimed at modernising Guyana’s healthcare, education, and housing sectors, with $143.2 billion, $175 billion and $112.5 billion earmarked respectively.
To secure a modern health care system, investments will be made to complete the modern Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and six other regional hospitals nationwide. Provisions has also been made to expand telemedicine centres in additional remote, riverine and hinterland communities this year.
Under the education budget, $36.2 billion has been earmarked for construction and rehabilitation of schools, $4.4 billion for scholarships, and $5.5 billion for the National School Feeding program.
Further, in keeping with its commitment, $13.1 billion has been approved to implement free tertiary education at the University of Guyana (UG).
The government has also allocated $88 billion has been allocated to advance the energy expansion and transition Guyana towards renewables. Majority of this allocation has been allocated to the transformative gas-to-energy project, that is set to bring significant relief to Guyanese and the business community.
This project is the single largest investment in the electricity sector and is divided into five components ─ the laying of the pipeline to bring the gas to shore, the construction of the power plant and Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) facility, the installation of transmission lines, the construction of the control centre and the upgrading of the distribution system.
Guyana’s infrastructure sector is set to receive a significant boost this year, with $252.8 billion allocated to the Ministry of Public Works. This mammoth investment will fund a range of transformative projects, including major road upgrades and the enhancement of transportation networks across the country.
Budget 2025 is a reflection of the government’s commitment of securing a prosperous Guyana through investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, welfare and most importantly – increasing disposable income for workers, families and households. DPI
