2015 Budget does not provide for Old Age Pension increases ­- Opposition

After scrutinizing the 2015 budget estimates yesterday, the political opposition said it discovered what it described as another aspect of the “deceptive budget.” It said that that nowhere in the estimates provides for the increases in the Old Age pension to $17,000. Leveling this accusation against the government was former Junior Finance Minister, Juan Edghill. He told members of the House that after perusing the estimates, it is clear that the current allocation in the budget would not be sufficient. Social Protection Minister Volda Lawrence, in defending the budget, said that the increases are not provided for under the allocations of her ministry but under the Ministry of Finance. She initially stated that $2.7B was provided for to cover the increases, and later clarified that it was $2.82B. Lawrence failed, however, to clarify that this sum was allocated under her ministry as revealed by the budget estimates. But when the calculations were done by the opposition, it still insisted that the figures still did not add up. The People’s Progressive Party later issued a statement to the media informing once more on its position on the matter. The Opposition called on the Granger-led Administration to provide a proper explanation on the inadequate budgetary allocations for the proposed increase in Old Age Pension. The Party pointed out that in 2014, the PPP/C administration spent $7,895,554,000 to benefit approximately 43,500 pensioners and almost 10,000 persons on Public Assistance. It stated however, that in 2015 the current administration, with its announced increases in Old Age Pension to $17,000, only allocated $8, 085,442,000, approximately $190 Million increase over 2014, to finance this increase for the period September to December 2015. The party made it clear that approximately $675 Million would be required, $485 Million more than what is budgeted for 2015. It stated that “a simple crunching of the numbers will show that based on the increased sums allocated in the 2015 Budget, Old Age Pensioners in real terms, will only benefit from a $300 increase monthly”. It emphasised that “this most recent act of deception by the Granger Administration is a flagrant betrayal of Guyana, more particularly the senior citizens”. Finance Minister, Winston Jordan was subsequently asked to shed some light on the matter. He said, “Look, he (Edghill) is dead wrong.” Jordan said that $243.4M has been allocated for public assistance while a total of $2.82B has been allocated for pensioners. The Finance Minister noted that $30M has also been provided for, to assist single parents. This, he said, gives a total of $3.156B which is provided for under the Ministry of Social Protection. He said that Ms. Lawrence was just ill­-advised by her technical staff. Edghill later reiterated to the media that the Finance Minister did not truly provide any real increase for the pensioners in the budget, but rather eliminated the subsidies for water and electricity and took the usual allocation for that and redirected it this year to the increases for pensioners.