AFC Press Statement
The State of the Economy
The AFC notes with growing concern the PPP’s complete refusal to take any action to combat the growing inflation crisis.
In the period since the PPP has assumed the reins of power, there has been a 21.5% increase in the cost of food. A family of 5 would have seen their food budget move from 100,000 to 121,500. Thousands of Guyanese families are now facing food insecurity.
Now recent reports show that the inflation is only getting worse. In April 2021 inflation stood at 2.8% compared to a year earlier. In April 2022 we saw inflation of 7.5% when compared to a year earlier. That’s almost 3 times the inflation we saw last year.
At the current rate we could see inflation go above 10% by the end of 2022. The PPP had promised 4.1% inflation in total by December 2022, but, with inflation already reaching 3.2% in May, it is highly likely that we have already reached 4.1% inflation by today, July 8.
This out of control inflation is having real and damaging impacts on the standard of living of our people. It is directly impacting the quality, and sometimes quantity, of food in family pots all across the nation, as parents struggle to provide for their families.
Today, 22% of Guyanese are now having issues feeding themselves and their families; this is according to a poll conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI).
What stands out in this crisis is the PPP’s total refusal to do anything about the inflation. The PPP has instead sought to blame everything but their own actions for the inflation being experienced.
Inflation is always too much money chasing too few goods. In light of this fact we must consider the fact that at the end of 2022 the PPP would have spent the same in under three years that the APNU+AFC spent in 5 years, G$1.26 trillion.* If this drastic increase in spending came with an equally drastic increase in the non-oil GDP, which is the only GDP figure that matters to the common man and woman, then there would not be cause for concern, but instead this spending came hand in hand with economic stagnation. The last GDP figures released by the Ministry of Finance showed a smaller GDP in 2021 than we had in 2019.
Furthermore, with a 51% reduction in rice production and a 47.7% reduction in sugar production, the AFC has no confidence that the GDP today has returned to 2019 levels as yet.
The combination of high spending and economic stagnation, all the work of PPP mismanagement, is the primary cause of the inflation we see today.
The AFC continue to call on the PPP to take immediate action to reduce the impact this inflation crisis is having on the people of Guyana.
* Budget 2015: $221 billion
Budget 2016: $230 billion
Budget 2017: $250 billion
Budget 2018: $267.1 billion
Budget 2019: $300.7 billion
TOTAL APNU+AFC BUDGET 2015-2019: $1.269 TRILLION
Budget 2020: $329.5 billion
Budget 2021: $383.1 billion
Budget 2022: $552.9 billion
TOTAL PPP BUDGET FROM 2020-2022: $1.266 TRILLION
END
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