Georgetown, Ministry of Finance, December 28, 2020:
Supplementary allocations for key sectors including Agriculture, Housing and Water, Amerindian Affairs and Human Services were today secured when Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh successfully piloted two Supplementary Appropriation Acts in the National Assembly during the 15th Sitting of the 12th Parliament.
An amount of $18.2B for the year 2020 was approved and comprised of Financial Paper 1- No. 1 of 2020 totaling $792.3M drawn down from the Contingency Fund, while Financial Paper 2- No. 2 of 2020 amounted to $17.4 B of Supplementary Provision. The advances from the Contingency Fund with Paper 1 included expenditure on uniform allowance for students in Regions 1,7,8 and 9, urgent repairs to agriculture access dams within Regions 2, 3 and 5, the procurement of motorcycles to support anti-crime operations, overseas training of engineers of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to provide maintenance to the King Air 350 Beechcraft and an advance payment on the acquisition of a Bell 412 helicopter which will increase the aerial operations’ capacity of the GDF.
In relation to Financial Paper No. 2, funds were secured for several sectors including the Ministry of Finance for the provision of partial clearance of inherited stock of arrears to the Guyana Power and Light Company and for the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs for the procurement of tractors and trailers for hinterland communities. Additionally, under the Ministry of Agriculture $4B was approved as a capital contribution to GUYSUCO, while $407M was granted for additional drainage and irrigation works in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 to enhance food security in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, funding was also secured for other key sectors such as the Ministry of Public Works for additional resources to advance the country’s roads programme, $2. 5B for the Ministry of Human Services in relation to additional provision for the Covid-19 relief household initiative and a $2B allocation under the Ministry of Housing and Water for additional infrastructural works in new and existing areas. An amount of $4.2 B for 2019 with respect to illegal withdrawals from the contingency fund by the APNU/AFC Coalition Government was also cleared. It must be noted that these unauthorized withdrawals were done at a time when the then Government had lost a No-confidence Motion and was in caretaker mode.