| … AFC laments no mention of job creationThe 2009 projections in the budget as set out by Dr Ashni Singh in his Budget have been condemned by leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Robert Corbin as grandiose and unachievable.Mr Corbin said that the expectations are laudable if achievable but not realistic.He noted that this position was embedded in the lack of human resources and skills available in the country.“I wish it were possible…It’s not possible.”Alliance for Change Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, in his initial response to the budget presentation told media operatives that what was deafening in Dr Singh’s presentation was what he failed to mention.“I want to say that this budget is manifest in what is not said…Nothing is said as to how many are unemployed…nothing is said about the policies on goods…nothing is said about creating new jobs.”He did say, however,Nike NFL Jerseys China, that the budget presentation was a clever analysis of identifying the excuses for the poor economic performance for last year.He noted that the statistics as presented by Dr Singh was “far removed” from the living reality of the country.Ramjattan sought to point out that the country was “in a mess and the impression that is given through his budget speech is that we are not.”The AFC chairman noted,Cheap Jerseys NFL China, also, that in the Dr Singh’s presentation it was detailed but “he hardly had any positives for the larger macro economic state of affairs and of course the projections are most unrealistic in the context in the decline of the three major export earners and the global financial crisis.”He noted that the grand new statement of no taxes was farcical and hypocritical and he also lamented the fact that there was no increase in the income tax threshold.Peter Ramsaroop, Chairman of Vision Guyana, and a trained economist, in an invited comment said that there should be no joy in anyone presenting the largest budget to the nation.“What that means to the ordinary citizen is that the taxes the government collects are so huge that they can present the largest budget in history.”Ramsaroop, known for his proposed economic reforms for Guyana,Wholesale Stitched NFL Jerseys, said that he had difficulty with the statistical information presented in this budget.“I have some challenges in accepting the accuracy of the numbers presented but given that I do not own the process,cheap nfl jerseys, I will have to take the Minister’s word that these numbers are truly reflective of the accounting on the economy….”He said that the real growth in GDP is what is important, in that it shows economic development.“We need growth with development which is what we should be talking about in Guyana.”In his assessment of the budget,Cheap NFL Jerseys co, Ramsaroop said that the first major statistic was puzzling.He pointed out that Clive Thomas once questioned the late President Desmond Hoyte on the Economic Reform Programme’s high growth performances and asked how important the numbers were, given where the country had to travel from.Thomas was enquiring about economic development and not just growth in expenditure levels, the sufficient condition and not the necessary.Specifically,cheap nfl jerseys online, Ramsaroop said he was hoping for the opening line of the Minister to say, Value Added Tax was reduced to 10 per cent while a large portion of the remaining taxes would be allocated into programmes to diversify the economy.Ramsaroop said in any budget submission, one would “need to offset expenditures of new programmes with how additional revenues will be derived…What is needed the most in our economy is the creation of jobs and in order to do that, taxes must be reduced and infrastructure created in areas that will allow for new growth.”“Although over $626M will go to the University of Guyana, no programme will allow for the reduction of fees or what happens when one graduates and can’t find jobs…All we are doing is creating educated people for other countries.”According to Ramsaroop, the budget represents the backward thinking nature of the government.“Expenditures must tie into an economic plan that dictates how we will grow our economy and what we want is for each citizen to benefit.” |
