GUYANA is indeed very fortunate to have been insulated from the full brunt of the contagion of the still raging international economic crisis. That this nation has weathered well the effects of a crisis, that has wreaked havoc with the economies  of even better developed countries, is as a result of prudent fiscal management policies  enacted by President Jagdeo and his able team of experts, lauded by a recent IMF mission overview of the country’s economic performance for 2010.

One has only to  follow the daily accounts of the PPP/C administration’s continuous  investment in the nation’s social infrastructure, the dynamic housing drive for example,  as they seek to bring improvements and comforts to the lives of the Guyanese people. Of course, this developmental plus could not have taken place had there been a contracting of the economy or if the latter had been subject to an IMF prescription for recovery.

And yet there are still those accusations from the general opposition direction about a country that is  in all kinds of trouble. Not one of them has the courage and nationalistic decency to commend the Jagdeo government for a job well done in keeping the nation’s economy out of turbulent seas.

Even in Barbados, a CARICOM sister island nation, always recognised as one of the English-speaking Caribbean region’s wealthiest economies, is now facing tough times, compliments of the global economic downturn.  This island, like all those of the region, has suffered severely from the storm, especially in the pivotal area of tourist arrivals and concomitant low hotel occupancy levels.

Therefore, the announcement in that island’s  recent budget of a five percent increase in the Value Added Tax, and a one hundred percent increase in two main categories of immigration applications, in addition to other increases relative to work permits and other immigrant categories, with the former measure registering islanders concern and criticisms and illustrates an island government’s attempt to save its economy, that has been under severe stress for some time.

Guyana’s social and economic development is continuing unhindered, thanks to an able and wise executive.