General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has once again called out the opposition’s anti-progress criticisms of government performance in an attempt to bring relevance to their cause.
During his weekly press conference, Dr Jagdeo addressed the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) contention that budget 2025 is a “political gimmick”.
He highlighted that the opposition continues to posit baseless criticisms against the government’s spending on development initiatives, ranging from infrastructure to health and housing.
Further, he said they fail to provide concrete alternatives, but appear wholly satisfied to assert generic disapproval.
“Tell us whose road not to fix. Tell us which congested highway not to widen. Tell us, if we don’t spend the money on the power plant, where to get the power from. Or should we not spend money on all the water treatment plants for our people? They can’t come to the details,” he argued.
Dr Jagdeo assured that the 2025 budget aims to address the needs of Guyanese, leading to the further fulfillment of the ambitious commitments the government made in its manifesto.
“Money will be in the budget to continue our housing programme because we promised the people greater access to housing. We will do that during an election year and we will do it in a year that is not election. From the first year we got into office we’ve started doing that,” he confirmed.
He dismissed the assertions of the WPA as more mindless chatter that feed into their continued attempts to villainise the PPP.
The General Secretary reminded that the government is focused on creating more opportunities and uplifting the lives of Guyanese, and each budget presented during its tenure has reflected this determination.
Successive budgets have seen massive allocations for housing, health, infrastructure and education, which are some of the key pillars in boosting the living standard in the country.
“Their desires for a better life must guide our policies and the spending and that is what we are doing. Look at where we are putting the money,”
In 2024, the government passed a historic $1.146 trillion National Budget 2024 themed “Staying the Course: Building Prosperity For All”.
This budget imposed no new taxes and was partially financed by revenue earned from Guyana REDD + Investment Fund (GRIF) under the original Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
On Friday, the government is expected to present this year’s fiscal plan, which will continue to prioritise sustainable growth citizen well-being and nationwide transformation.