Guyana’s economy has had uninterrupted growth
– Finance Minister says ‘this is a remarkable achievement’
– visualizes exciting, rapid & dramatic transformation of Guyana in coming years
GUYANA’S economy over the last five years has had uninterrupted growth, averaging in excess of 4%, which, considering the global and regional financial meltdown, is a remarkable achievement.
This phenomenon, according to Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, has been in concert with – and has been contributing to a skyrocketing dynamism in construction activities.
Speaking with the Chronicle on Wednesday, ahead of today’s grand opening of the International Building Expo at the Providence Stadium, Dr. Singh alluded to the close correlation between construction activity and growth and dynamism in an economy in general.
Drawing parallels to international paradigms, he posited that an economy that is going through challenging times would typically reflect slow activity, or “doldrums” in its construction sector, with the opposite holding true in a healthy economy, with the acceleration in the economy being reflected in its appreciating construction sector.

PUBLIC SECTOR IMPETUS
He stressed that the accelerating construction activity has straddled every sector and every facet of economic life in Guyana. According to Dr. Singh, in Guyana there is significant public sector impetus to construction activities, with particular reference to public sector investment projects that are rooted in construction and construction-related activities – investment in bridges, in roads, and in buildings of every kind and for every purpose, among others.
Over the last five years, emphasized the Finance Minister, Guyana has had a list of outstanding and unprecedented achievements in the construction sector, and he named a plethora of examples of magnificent projects and correlating growth in the construction sector and construction-related products that were driven by public investment.
Of equal importance, the minister said that Guyana’s private sector is responding to the favourable economic environment created by the government, and they have invested in the construction sector at an unprecedented scale.
Referring to the Diamond housing development as a showpiece flagship, where magnificent edifices are being built almost on a daily basis, as well as new homes, Dr. Singh described the building boom as “…a remarkable story unfolding, and referred to home-ownership as private investment in the household sense.
REALIZABLE DREAM
He passionately averred, “…you have, now, literally tens of thousands of Guyanese who are able to be owners of their own homes,” whereas fifteen years ago this would have remained an unrealizable dream for most Guyanese.
Today, this dream is being realized because the government has cleared almost every hurdle to facilitating this eventuality. This, Dr. Singh pointed out, is probably the most lasting fixed asset that they will ever have – the significance of which he said should not be lost to the national psyche.
According to Dr. Singh, when a person makes a commitment to construct their own home they are essentially saying, “I am making a long-term commitment”, because their own home would probably be the biggest and most important asset that they will ever invest in throughout their life.
The Finance Minister said that today Guyana has tens of thousands of Guyanese people saying, “I am making a long-term comment, (clearly) because I recognize the positive developments in our country.  I have more disposable income; I am able to save, I am able to go to the financial institutions and borrow, and I am confident of the long-term future of our country.”
Minister Singh pointed out that a visit to some of the housing schemes across the country would evidence Guyanese of literally every strata of society occupying newly-constructed homes in the high, middle and low-income developments, with increasing numbers of buildings, of every type, in various stages of construction.
BUILDING BOOM
Even persons with modest incomes are able to own their own homes because of Government’s restructured policies and the cooperation of the New Building Society (NBS) and the other banking institutions.  This, the Finance Minister posited, augers very well for the future of this nation.
This accelerated expansion of the housing sector, he explained, has not been incidental but was due to many policies that were implemented to ensure that Guyana’s financial institutions remain strong, liquid and dynamic.
Government has also pushed specific policies promoting lending development in Guyana and have restructured loan ceilings and interest rates to favour borrowers. Dr. Singh said these restructured and visionary policies have fuelled tremendous growth in private sector credit, in particular housing development and its satellite industries.
What he described as remarkable is the easy access to financing for home construction.
He noted that the expansion of public, corporate and private investments is a clear testimony to confidence in Guyana’s long-term future.
These are reflected in, among others, expanded physical capacity, including heavy equipment. He reiterated that the sector has itself invested in and contributed to this expanded capacity.
EXPANDED ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
The Finance Minister also spoke of the investments and innovative technologies, plans to process new kinds of building materials – whether it is wood products or finishing products; so the drivers are investment and expertise.
He encouraged a visit to the Building Expo, where there could be seen remarkable accumulated capacity by local companies. Entrepreneurs are experimenting and pushing frontiers in pursuit of excellence, Dr. Singh asserted.
He clarified that his observation of there being a close correlation between a country’s economy and its building sector is based on the foregoing dynamics that are manifesting in Guyana’s construction boom.
According to Dr. Singh, few sectors contribute to employment opportunities as the construction sector does, either directly or indirectly.
He promised an even more exciting period for the development of Guyana’s economy ahead. He enthused that Guyana is on the verge of a number of major developments that will see Guyana’s economy growing more rapidly than it has been growing; more jobs being created; generation of incomes – both at an aggregate national level and at individual levels.
“I see on the horizon,” prognosticated Dr. Singh, “a number of projects….that will contribute over the space of the next five years a rapid transformation in our economy…that are on the verge of implementation.”
He cited as examples the $650 million Amaila Falls Hydro project, which will provide clean and reliable energy to the national grid. This single project, he claimed, would move this country from a hundred percent dependency on fossil fuels energy to a hundred percent clean energy, which will also be more affordable than currently obtains.
This single project, promised Dr. Singh, would afford immense economic and employment opportunities – before and after, directly and indirectly.
“Imagine the implications for Linden, which will be the major transit point…” and the hub of economic activities in the near future, because of the multiplier effect related to the construction of the hydro-project, he said.
Dr. Singh also made reference to the wealth-creational multiplier effect when the much-touted Marriott Hotel project comes on-stream; as well as extractive operations by mining companies and related investors; and the expansion of the agricultural sector, which has already been transformed into a new dynamism.
Investments in infrastructure is projected to dramatically transform Guyana from where we are today, although Guyana is currently totally unrecognizable from where we were fifteen years ago.
Dr. Singh revealed that Government is working on a completely modern airport complex at Timehri, which will comprise an expanded terminal building, modern shopping facilities, air bridges, and an expanded runway.
EXCITING STORY OF GUYANA’S FUTURE
A modern four-lane road to Timehri is expected to be completed within four years, according to Dr. Singh, as well as the continuation of the four-lane highway on the East Coast will commence in the near future.
In collaboration with other partners, Government intends, also, to transform the transportation sector, especially with the addition of roll-on, roll-off ferries, which Dr. Singh portends will also contribute to more cost and time-efficient connectivity in the country.
He drew attention to the Ogle Airport, which is now an international airport, with more than fifty take-offs every day. He said there is unprecedented interest in Guyana and predicted that Guyana will, in the near future, be the hub of investor interest because the level is escalating with great rapidity – from every part of the globe, with interest shown in every sector.
“When we put all of these things together,” opined the minister, “they tell an extremely positive story about Guyana within the next five to ten years – and I would say it is a very exciting story.
“We need to remain focused, and be committed to maintaining that focus.
“The vision has been outlined already…our President has spoken extensively about this vision…and in fact has been the architect of this vision.
“It has been my privilege…to have been able to observe, at close range, the leadership our President has provided in crafting these visions,” reflected Dr. Singh. He said President Bharrat Jagdeo was also integral to creating the provisions and all of the prerequisites to ensuring the realization of this vision. Dr. Singh is confident that President Jagdeo will continue to being part of that process of nation-building in the future.
PEOPLE EMPOWERMENT
The Finance Minister said, too, that while taking the macro economy into perspective, there is a very significant dimension to the acceleration in Guyana’s housing sector, and that is manifested in myriads of ways on a daily basis.
Making mention of the 17,000 house lots distributed over the last three years, Dr Singh said: “If you think about what that means to a person and a family – to own for the first time a plot of land…to become a landowner, eventually to become a homeowner.
“That is, I believe, an equally compelling story, and I have had the extremely moving experience of having had young people…young couples who are now working…mothers with single status, say to me “Minister, we have never dreamt that we could go into a bank, get a loan, and build our own home.” I have had people drawing pension – recent retirees, say to me “For so many years working as a teacher I could never imagined that I would one day be able to get my own home.”
Those stories, said the minister, are as equally as compelling to him as the big picture “…whether it is policemen or other members of the disciplined services, young public servants, retired teachers… and I can think of real-life examples where, moving from place to place, people saying that owning a home has made the ultimate difference in their lives, because what they were formerly paying in rent is now being paid toward a mortgage.
“And these stories repeat themselves everywhere you go. You have, for example, the truck driver who, because of the Berbice Bridge, is able to make one trip right away, instead of being stranded at the ferry – sometimes overnight; so while before he could go to the Bourda market every three days, today he could make three trips in one day.
“The farmer who used to pick his boulanger and put it in a bag, then wait for the truck driver…sometimes he is stuck at the New Amsterdam stelling overnight and throughout the day taking the heat of the sun.
“Today they load the bags of boulanger – or whatever the produce is, at the back of the truck, and in the space of three hours it is in a customer’s basket,” Dr. Singh said.
DIFFERENCE TO PEOPLE’S LIVES
“The difference that makes to people’s lives is a story that sometimes is not recognized, and really cannot even be captured in words,” the Finance Minister stated.
“I went on a walkabout in the town (in Linden), and one of the roads that we’re reconstructing…a gentleman came out and his daughter and some grandchildren…he has a little shop, and he said to me ‘Minister, I started this business…this road…I could never drive (on) this road. I saved up and got a canter. I have never been able to drive my canter truck up to my shop. It is only now that this road is completed that for the first time my canter truck can drive to the front of my shop to offload my goods and to pick up my empty containers. I used to have to get my children and grandchildren to help me fetch things.
“And that is a modest road project,” noted the minister, who continued “I saw another road, from the foot of the hill to the top… the old hospital used to be there at the top of the hill… The people that I met said that before the road was constructed a pregnant mother could never hope to walk from the bottom to the top, and an ambulance could not drive up.”
TRANSFORMING LIVES
“Today, you (can) pop into a vehicle and drive to the top (of the hill). Those stories are compelling stories, and those stories are made possible by the strategic investments that we have made possible, which revolve around – not only around macro-economic growth, but also has human interest dimension; because we have always been careful that our strategy for growth has placed emphasis on this,” Dr. Singh stated.
“There has never been anything more important to us as a government, and there has been nothing more important to the President – and I have heard the President speak of these stories; and he has an even wider accumulation of stories than I have from my own limited experience of the things that we have done that touched people’s lives – that changed and transformed their lives,” Dr. Singh said.
The minister says those stories inspire and touch them and make their efforts and hard work worthwhile. According to him, the Building Expo is another opportunity for persons who are new owners of house lots to access the service providers and credit facilitators; as well as to educate and inform themselves on available options on home-building products and services.
These, said Dr. Singh, are the important things that transform lives and create opportunities for upward mobility, which is the ultimate focus of the PPP/C government.