While a small group continues to attempt to paint a negative and bleak picture of our country, these distortions are increasingly being dispelled by the facts and reality.
One of their favourite missiles is the crime situation, which they used to peddle their regular doses of venom to show that government is not working in the interest of the people of this country. While it is true that we have a serious crime problem, and this has been acknowledged by the government, what these cynics do not say is the fact that crime is a global problem with almost every country facing a  challenge in this respect.
If they look at what is happening in our sister CARICOM states, particularly Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, they will see that the situation is much worse than what is happening here. With respect to the latter, the crime situation has become so acute that the government instituted a sate of emergency. In our South American neighbours crime rates are soaring. And in Norway, a country with a reputation for a low crime rate and stability, one of the disastrous criminal acts took place with a gunman killing scores of people. A few days ago in the U.S., another gunman sprayed some 73 bullets into a parade killing four and wounding several others. In Britain recently there was massive looting and vandalism.
But unfortunately, some see Guyana only under the crime glass. Nevertheless, progress on all fronts continues, regardless of what the cynics may offer.
Only two days ago the third Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report was presented highlighting the significant strides made in all of the areas.
According to Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh: “This PPP/C Government’s focus on development has been steadfast and attention to the MDGs unwavering. The MDGs have formed the core of our wider national development agenda, and we have been able to achieve substantial progress towards achieving them.”
And this comes on the heels of the mid-year economic report which showed our economy growing by 5.9% for the first half of this year, which was aptly described by President Bharrat Jagdeo as being “enviable in any part of the world” as it is above the global average growth.
The Finance Minister correctly pointed out: “The stability and growth achieved over the past decade stand as loud testimony to the appropriateness of the policy stance we adopted, especially when cast against the dismal external conditions which have confronted small, vulnerable economies like ours,” the minister said. He added that the resilience achieved by Guyana’s economy was amply demonstrated most recently by the achievement of five consecutive years of growth since 2006, “through the first half of 2011, as recently reported in the 2011 Mid-Year Report.”

He said that to more fully appreciate the achievements made so far, one must consider that the size of the economy today is three and a half times that which it was in 2000. “Per capital GDP in 2010 is measured at US$2,502, compared to US$804 in 2000,” he said.
He said gross domestic reserves today is US$780 million, two and a half times the level of US$296 million in 2000. “Our external debt stock in 2010 amounts to 46 percent of GDP, compared with 170 percent of GDP in 2000. These developments have not gone unnoticed by our private sector, and they have responded accordingly, [with] private sector credit doubling over the decade from $59 billion [in 2000] to $112 billion [in 2010], aided by the fact that average weighted lending rate for commercial banks has declined from 17.68 percent in 2000 to 11.95 in 2010,” Dr. Singh said.
What is important is not that it has not been just an issue of economic growth, but rather as a result of this growth there has been increased spending on the social sector which is leading to better services and improved living conditions and standards. This is unlike what is happening in many countries, whereby economic growth is not necessarily leading to  improved lives for people.
It is therefore not surprising that we are closer and on target to reach the MDGs which would lead to further improvement of living standards for our people.