A GINA feature
The year 2010 was historic for the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), since, for the first time in the history of Guyana, the entity facilitated over 300 investment agreements and dealt with 681 companies both of which are the largest in the history of GO-Invest. A total of 228 companies, both foreign and local, were given concessions, waivers of duties and taxes and other incentives with the collaborative intervention of GO- Invest and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
Economic Diversification
The year was also extremely fulfilling for GO-Invest in its continued economic diversification efforts which yielded tremendous rewards in shaping Guyana’s economy into a sustainable one that will be able to withstand any global fluctuations without significant decline in the country’s economic activities.

This was evident as Guyana’s economy remained relatively unaffected by the decline in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) which resulted in other CARICOM countries experiencing a zero percent growth for 2010.
Head of the Guyana Office for Investment, Geoff  Da Silva, confirmed this achievement.
“The Guyanese economy has diversified considerably in terms of GDP over the last four to five years. If you take the traditional sectors, rice, sugar, fisheries, timber and gold, and those are considerable sectors in the Guyanese economy, they now comprise about 39 percent of total GDP, actually about 31 percent of GDP; the non-traditional is nearly 70 percent of GDP. The Guyanese economy is still growing and we have not experienced a decline in the whole country and this shows that the diversity is happening,” DaSilva said.
Guyana focused heavily on promoting a mixture of local and foreign investmens of various magnitudes as this is the key to developing a sustainable economy.
This year, the entity dealt with approximately 470 projects which indicate an expansion in investments.

Information Communication Technology
Major development was recorded in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector, bringing the total number of call centres in Guyana to eight and the number of persons employed by these centres to 3,200.
Another four centres are expected to enter the industry in 2011, thus creating demand for an additional 3,000 employees.
Included among the four new centres will be a bilingual one in Lethem, Region Nine.
Guyana continued to pursue the path to be on par with the rest of the world in ICT with several new investments in the sector.
WiMAX 4G broad band wireless technology was the most significant for the year. At its launching on December 6, President Bharrat Jagdeo highlighted the impact of this US$35M investment on the country.
“WiMAX service is ahead of most countries in the world. If we have to close the digital divide, we must close it with technologies that are more advanced than other countries have… ICT would lead the way forward for Guyana. It will be one of the new sectors that will generate greater disposable income, it will create thousands of jobs” the President stated.

Agriculture
A target of 230 projects in the agriculture sector has been set for 2010 based on the rapid growth that has been reflected over the past years.
Efforts to encourage more large-scale investments in agriculture also yielded many results for Go-Invest as plans are moving ahead for investments in large-scale rice production in Region Nine.
Twenty- ten has been a good year for rice production and it is projected that within the next five to ten years, Guyana could produce over 1.5 million tonnes of rice, some of which will be produced in Region Nine.
The first crop of 82 acres of rice in that region was already harvested in September and was witnessed by Ministers of Agriculture Robert Persaud and Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai.
The Agriculture Minister emphasised the importance of such an investment in that region and alluded to the positive response which the Ministry has received with regard to its proposals.
The rice project in Moco-Moco, Region Nine is a joint venture between the Governments of Guyana and Spain, through the Spanish Development Agency.

Services sector
This sector experienced rapid growth aided by new developments in trade between Guyana and Brazil, as a commercial zone has been established in Lethem with electricity access, water supply and other facilities, coupled with a light manufacturing and trucking zones and truck and bus terminals.
Approximately 40 businesses were granted long-term leases to operate in Lethem’s commercial zone, with two already in operation, while nine are currently under construction.
This includes a number of sub-sectors such as medical, financial and retail/wholesale distribution.
Construction continues to flourish in this sector which also saw an expansion of established building companies and new companies coming on board.
Ready-mix cement companies gained substantial investment during the last year with three new companies coming on board.
Today there are four ready-mix cement companies owned by both Guyanese and foreigners, among which are BK International, Toolsie Persaud Limited, and the original company “Readymix” which continues to operate in Guyana.

Tourism
Tourism was another attractive sector for investment in 2010 as more overseas-based Guyanese continued to invest in hotels and resorts which are vital to the growing tourism industry.
Go Invest facilitated six projects for the construction and expansion of eco-lodges to accommodate the growing number of visitors to Guyana.
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Manniram Prashad, also emphasised the need for more investment in this sector because of the growth being recorded.
“Most of the people who started businesses there and building hotels are from the area, and that means more employment would be created for the people in Lethem; and definitely it will attract more tourists because most of the hotels are filled during events such as the Rupununi Town Day and Rodeo,” Minister Prashad said.

Wood
Significant growth was also recorded in the wood sector which has seen heavy investment by overseas-based Guyanese. Sawmills and other wood-processing operations are among these investments.
Exports of wood and wood products to India and China have increased,resulting in continued economic growth despite the global financial crisis.

Energy
There is also a vibrant energy sector with the CGX, Exxon Mobile, Repsol and Takutu Oil, which are expected to begin drilling in 2011.
Guyana’s economy is thus poised for a huge increase in investment in this sector, with much emphasis on agro-based energy and hydropower.
Go-Invest continues to explore the possibilities for investments in alternative energy projects, such as ethanol from sugar cane and the use of wood chips from forest plantations which involves growing trees to be harvested and using the chips to create energy.

Manganese Reunion, a huge mining company based at Matthew’s Ridge, Region One, has also entered Guyana’s economy to add to the massive investment currently taking place in mining.
The company includes some of the major investors from the former OMAI gold mines and has been given permission to explore the area. It has already established a presence in Matthew’s Ridge where a feasibility study is ongoing. US$3M has been invested in the feasibility work and the investment promises tremendous benefits to the community.
During a recent visit to the area, Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall highlighted the importance of the manganese project to the revival of the mining community.
“They are resuscitating the manganese mine, they’ve done a lot of road works and early next year they are going to start occupying buildings there. They are going to bring in equipment and the people in charge are making every effort to employ local people so that the local community can have jobs,” he said.
Guyana has been experiencing positive economic growth over the past four years and this trend continues along with the financial sector which has also taken advantage of the favourable investment climate in the country. This is evidenced by the increased number of bank branches that are being constructed.

At the recent opening of the new Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) branch at Diamond, on the East Bank Demerara, Chairman of  GBTI’s Board, Robin Stoby said he was encouraged by Guyana’s investment climate which is very encouraging.

Go-Invest, in accordance with the National Competitiveness Strategy, has set and surpassed its investment targets for 2010 for the various sectors, including Agriculture, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Tourism, Wood, Energy and Mining.