THE pessimists and the rabid anti-government critics having been lambasting the government for what they are trying to portray as poor management and poor performance of the national economy even though the facts and figures show a totally different reality. This false and wicked propagation is obviously aimed at tainting the government’s image and hopefully cause it not to win the next general elections, as they are some in our midst who are apparently living for only one purpose, and that is, to see the current government removed from office. And to achieve their purpose they intend to rely on distortions, half-truths, outright lies, speculations which they attempt to turn into facts and reality and any other nasty trick in the book. So, on a daily basis they spew their venom and filth, hoping that the Guyanese public will swallow them willingly. This just goes to show how little respect they have for the intelligence of the Guyanese people.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) despite external and domestic shocks in 2010, Guyana’s economy has exhibited resilience, registering a fifth consecutive year of robust growth. An IMF mission was in Guyana from November 8-18 to conduct the Fund’s yearly review of the country’s economy. And there is no reason why the IMF would want to distort figures to paint a good picture of our economy. But perhaps those anti-government peddlers may now say that the government bribed IMF officials to get to report favourably on Guyana’s economy. It is certainly not beyond these anti-progressive elements in our society.
Chief of the IMF Mission, Therese Turner-Jones, highlighted that Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to grow by just under 4 percent this year, above the outturn in 2009, supported by increased activity in the sugar, gold, and services sectors.
“Notwithstanding downside risks, including the global environment and concerns in the sugar sector, the team expects growth to continue on a steady path, supported by expansion in the mining and construction sectors. Despite a small increase reflecting movement in food prices, inflation remains relatively low,” the IMF stated.
The fund also praised continued improvements in public financial management and tax administration, especially with respect to compliance and risk management, were welcomed, as well as the increase in the gross foreign reserves position, to about five months of imports at present.
The banking system remains liquid and well capitalised; but the Fund cautioned that continued vigilance is warranted, particularly against the backdrop of the ongoing housing boom.
Recent enhancements in financial sector supervision and regulation, including new guidelines on risk management, are also welcomed and the dissemination of financial sector indicators, which now appear on the Bank of Guyana’s website, were commended.
But it is not only the fact the economy has been showing steady growth, notably it has been doing so in the face of a global financial crisis when many economies were actually contracting and were moving into deep crisis, several of which had to seek financial packages urgently to prevent a collapse of their economies.
The United Nations and international experts pointed out that for the developing world, the rise in food prices as well as the knock-on effects from the financial instability and uncertainty in industrialised nations are having a compounding effect. High fuel costs, soaring commodity prices together with fears of global recession are worrying many developing country analysts.
But we could safely say that while some of this happened here it was never to a point of crisis or anywhere near to what is taking place in some other countries. And therefore we must acknowledge and concede that our managers of the national economy are doing a good job despite the mud being thrown at them by those, whose vision are only limited to negatives.