News

by Zena Henry By September 1, 2015, government will reduce the Berbice Bridge toll for passenger cars and buses from $2,200 to $1,900, while other types of vehicles will be reduced by 10 percent. This is according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan who presented the 2015 Financial Statement, 2015. The new government promised this reduction and stated the reductions. “With ...

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, on Monday revealed that government will expend $1.7 billion to pay for 9,609 laptops which it has decided will be disseminated to “educators, students, institutions of learning and community-based organisations.” The laptops were ordered by the former administration under the One Laptop per Family Project (OLPF) and were to be the last to be disseminated. He ...

Government plans to spend $13 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of roads and bridges across Guyana.  This is according to Finance Minister Winston Jordon, who made the revelation during his presentation of Budget 2015 on Monday.  “…in 2015, the sum of $13 billion has been allocated for the enhancing of roads and bridges throughout Guyana,” he said.  $1.6 billion ...

by Zena Henry Minister of Finance Winston Jordan has stated that government upon assuming office inherited a “broken” tax system an must first fix it before they can implement Value Added Tax (VAT) reduction, but he has increased the list of zero-rated items that would cost the treasury GUY$680 million. The Minister however proposed an amendment to the Value Added ...

The government has made good on its salary increase promise, boasting that it has upped public servant pay more than initially proposed. According to Minister Jordan during his 2015 budget speech, public servants increases had risen from 6.0 percent to 26.4 percent. He announced that as part of the “moderate increases” in salaries, effective July1, 2015 an increase in the ...

Proceeding with the construction of the almost US$1 billion Amaila Falls Hydropower Station would be “downright criminal” because of the financial burden on the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) and the Treasury, Finance Minister Winston Jordan said. He said in his 2015 National Budget presentation said under the current financial formula, GPL would be required to pay GUY$130 million to ...

by Zena Henry The Guyana government has decided to allocate an additional GUY$8.2 billion to bail out the sickened Guyana Sugar Corporation for the remainder of the year, Finance Minister Winston Jordan announced. Delivering the 2015 National Budget to the National Assembly, he noted that government has already disbursed GUY$3.8 billion to the industry. He gave no indication that government ...

Guyana’s economy registered a 3.8 percent economic growth, down from an original projection of 5.6 percent and subsequent revised target of 4.5 percent. Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, in delivering the 2015 National Budget speech, attributed the slippage largely to the “rapidly declining political climate.” He said inflation during 2014 was 1.2 percent due to low oil prices. The budget is ...

by Zena Henry Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder on Monday remained hospitalized due to heart and lung problems, according to well-placed sources. Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo could not say the nature of Holder’s illness but confirmed that he was hospitalized on Sunday. Sources said that almost one week ago, the Agriculture Minister was breathing heavily. Information reaching Demerara Waves Monday ...

by Zena Henry Even as the country’s budget is expected to be presented to the nation today, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP)  was much clearer that embattled Dr. Jennifer Westford is still among  its list of parliamentarians, but remained tight-lipped about when its parliamentarians would take up their 32 seats in the National Assembly This is because General Secretary (GS), Clement ...