FROM all indications, the PNCR will nominate its long-standing member, Carl Greenidge, as its presidential candidate for next year’s national elections. This choice tells us one of two things. Either; (1) the available options for presidential candidate are very limited, or; (2) the further growth and development of Guyana’s economy is of no concern to the PNCR. Since the party regularly boasts of having the ‘brains’ and ‘experience’ to effectively govern the country, let us eliminate option one. The reason Greenidge’s nomination is an indication that the PNCR is not interested in economic development, as stated in option two, is due to the fact that this gentleman presided over the collapse of Guyana’s economy during the period 1985-1992.

In 1986, Guyana was importing more goods and services from the rest of the world than it was exporting, and was experiencing serious problems in making payments to international creditors. To finance the budget and the overall deficit, the PNC administration with Greenidge as its chief financial officer resorted to heavy borrowing. There was a sharp increase in commercial arrears (US$1.2 billion in mid-1989) and the total public sector external debt reached almost US$1.9 billion by 1989 or more than twice its level at the beginning of the 1980s. Guyana soon became one of the most heavily indebted developing countries in the world.

In 1990, Guyana’s debt service payments and interest amounted to 140 percent and 53 percent respectively of export earnings. Our foreign debt by the end of 1991 amounted to US$2.1 billion with debt service payments amounting to 105 percent of current revenue. Further, as a result of Greenidge’s incompetence and mismanagement, the Current Account Consolidated Fund showed a huge deficit, increasing from G$6 billion in 1989 to nearly G$18 billion in 1991.

In 1991, workers were given a 50 percent increase in wages and salaries, raising the daily minimum wage from $43.03 (given in 1990) to $65.56 (or less than half a US dollar), about the lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean. This was totally inadequate to meet the cost of living and well below the $193.77 per day demanded by the TUC in 1989 and the $307.07 for 1991.
With such a dismal track record as Minister of Finance, one wonders what ‘visionary leadership’ Guyanese can expect from Greenidge.