…private sector, Govt., Greenidge differ? By Keeran DannyEven with one commercial bank attributing this year’s budget cut for the slowdown of Guyana’s economy, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is saying that Government spending does not necessarily help economies to grow.According to former Finance Minister and APNU’s Member of Parliament, Carl Greenidge Government spending does not necessarily stimulate the economy, particularly when the spending becomes burdensome on citizens.On March 25 last, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh presented a $208.8B budget to the National Assembly, but after a series of amendments,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, it was reduced to $177.4B. The cut targeted $19B from the allocation for the Low Carbon Development Strategy; $5.6B under the Ministry of Public Works; and $5.2B in subsidies for the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated. The other cuts were $1.25B for the Specialty Hospital on the grounds that there was a lack of transparency, and a total of $217.1M from the Government Information Agency and the state-run TV and radio NCN, under the grounds that the entities were only pushing propaganda and shutting out opposition voices.Junior Finance Minister, Juan EdghillThree months later,Wholesale Jerseys, Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry (GBTI) presented its unaudited Report on the Financial Performance of the Bank for the first six months of the financial year,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, while stating that the slashing of the 2013 National Budget by $31B is among several reasons why Guyana’s economy has slowed.“…and a National Budget that was cut by $31B, we have seen a noticeable slowdown in our economy and this has put some pressure on Exchange Rate stability,” Robin Stoby, Chairman of GBTI Board said.According to Greenidge, higher Government expenditure does not mean higher growth and simple economic management would reveal this. As such, restoring moneys to the Budget is out of the question.Greenidge emphasized that if Government injects money into the economy by building a feasible factory, construct a road, and reduce red tape for exporting products there could be positive impacts.However, when Government invests money in projects that are unfeasible or the projects flop, the burden is on the taxpayers.“For instance, the Skeldon Factory was constructed for over US$100M and to date its output is very limited and taxpayers are already saddled with the high price of repaying for something that is not producing to cover its expense,” Greenidge said.He reasoned if increased Government spending indeed helps economies to grow, many Governments in developed countries that are faced with economic hardships would have injected large sums.But the Government and Private Sector Commission share similar sentiments expressed by the bank and differ from APNU.According to Junior Finance Minister, Juan Edghill, the budget cuts have not put a damper on the economy but have indeed slowed the pace at which the economy was projected to grow and could grow.Edghill said the budget was prepared to put the country along a positive growth path with transformative projects but reckless cutting by the joint Opposition (Alliance For Change and APNU) is slowing the economy. However, this “slow down” was anticipated and concerns were voiced by many stakeholders including those in the private sector.APNU Carl Greenidge“Cutting the budget by $31B meant that $31B would not have been available for circulation in the economy. It meant fewer sales of goods and services,Cheap Jerseys, less employment, and no transformative projects that allow competitiveness,Wholesale NBA Jerseys,” the Minister said.According to Edghill, if the Opposition had approved the allocations for the constructions of the Specialty Hospital and Cheddi Jagan International Airport expansion, scores of Guyanese labourers would have been employed; building materials would have been purchased; and the trickledown effects of spending income would have helped to stimulate the economy.But, the guarantee of the employment of Guyanese on these transformative projects is somewhat questionable since no Guyanese are employed in the ongoing construction phase of the Marriott Hotel, Kingston. The hotel is being constructed by Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) and the labour force is Chinese nationals. This stirred protest actions by the Opposition because the project is funded by Guyanese taxpayers.Defending the possibility that the money labourers earned are not spent locally, Edghill said all building materials are procured locally, so many Guyanese are also benefitting from the construction of the hotel. However, this is only one project out of many that Governme