Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that a national emergency budget is likely to be presented in three weeks.
He told reporters at a press conference today that ministers and heads of department have been given deadlines of next Monday and Wednesday to submit their plans.
Guyana has been operating without a budget for 2020. The last budget approved by Guyana’s National Assembly was one for the fiscal year ending 2019, which means that all expenditure for the first half of 2020 has been curtailed to a monthly one-twelfth of the previous year’s expenditure.
The upcoming budget is expected to include initiatives and measures to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Jagdeo has already announced that frontline workers can look forward to an “appropriate recognition” in the upcoming budget.
“We found that a lot of the people in the frontline, the sad story from the doctors and the nurses, they are dealing with this pandemic and they are in the frontline, but they feel that they are not adequately equipped with PPEs nor are they adequately rewarded,” the Vice President stated.
“I want to assure them that the President (Irfaan Ali) has indicated that in the next budget, there will be an appropriate recognition of their work,” he further assured.
