Having inherited a bankrupt economy debt burden massive and decrepit infrastructure among others this government on assumption to office in 1992 had the unenviable task of bringing some semblance of stability and economic growth. And through prudent management and sensible investment policies and the will to succeed many of the difficulties inherited have been overcome and many are currently being addressed. Of course, there still enormous problems and obstacles which have to be overcome but the progress so far has been admirable.
To bring this country from the virtual brink was not easy because of the complex challenges and difficulties encountered on the road towards progress, and these included political upheavals, the infamous jailbreak which led to an unprecedented crime spree from which we are still recovering, low commodity prices on the world market, massive oil and food price hikes, on the global market, removal of preferential sugar prices coupled with drastic price cuts by the EU and of course a global financial crisis which is still having an adverse impact on economies the world over.
So the road to progress was littered with difficulties and as such credit must be given to the government for its astute management of the economy and this was recently acknowledged by the IMF which noted that the sound and prudent macro economic management has been acknowledged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which by no means can be described as a friend of this government.
THE IMF says Guyana has weathered the impact of the global crisis well by regional and global standards and it has sustained a solid macroeconomic performance supported by prudent policies. The fund’s Executive Directors, following the IMF’s latest assessment last month, commended the commitment of local authorities to further entrench macroeconomic stability and fiscal sustainability, while promoting long-term growth and development to improve the country’s standard of living and reduce poverty.
In a press release, they observed that the strong fiscal consolidation in 2009 provides space for a more gradual tightening over the near term to support infrastructure investment and growth.
“A cautious fiscal stance remains nevertheless warranted given remaining vulnerabilities. Directors therefore supported the authorities’ commitment to maintain prudent expenditure policies and to continue implementing structural reforms aimed at safeguarding fiscal sustainability”, the fund said.
The IMF Executive Directors welcomed Guyana’s efforts to achieve sustainable long-term growth, including under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).

In an article in this newspaper recently Ron Cheong and Danny Doobay reported:
“Almost unnoticed, Guyana turned in the best 2 year improvement of the 133 countries in the Global Competitiveness Index produced by the World Economic Forum.
From its lowly position at 126, Guyana scaled +22 spots to come in at 104 in the just released 2009/2010 report.  At the same time Switzerland displaced the USA in the top spot and Singapore moved up +4 spots to take the number three position.”
“In the CARICOM reference group only 4 of the other 14 countries made it on the survey.  In comparison to Guyana’s +22 place improvement, Jamaica declined -13 places and Trinidad declined -2 places while Barbados and Suriname improved +6 and +11 places respectively.”
And most recently departing Managing Director of Republic Bank (Guyana Limited), Mr. Edwin Gooding expressed great optimism for the future economic prospects of this country amidst a bunch of cynics who only spew venom and doom on a daily basis painting a dirty picture and attempting to stir an anti-national and unpatriotic sentiment among the populace.
“I think I’m leaving at a time when Guyanese should be very excited about their future, there’s going to be lots of development…there’s going to be lots of positive things taking place here…right now Guyana is poised  for major development and expansion,” Mr. Gooding declared.
Isn’t ironic  that a foreigner, who by no stretch of imagination could be playing up to this government for any favour or has no personal benefit to get from  showering kudos,  is so optimistic of our future, while some of our own Guyanese are harping everyday about the doom of this country?