-Minister Ashni Singh
THE Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have formed the core of Guyana’s wider national development agenda, and substantial progress has been made towards achieving them, says Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.

Guyana on Thursday presented its third report to the United Nations on the status of the achievement of the eight MDGs.

Speaking to a wide audience at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Minister Singh said the PPP/C Government’s focus on development has been steadfast and attention to the MDGs unwavering.

The MDGs report is the third such report that the Government of Guyana has produced since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration in 2000.

Elaborating on the role and impact of the MDGs in Guyana over the past decade, the minister said that it was perhaps coincidental and fortuitous that the MDG framework was developed just one year before the formulation of Guyana’s National Development Strategy 2001 – 2010, and Guyana’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 2001.

“We were therefore able to incorporate the MDGs within our wider national development agenda, and to ensure that in our own pursuit of poverty reduction and improvement in health, education, water and sanitation we were cognizant of our relevant international undertakings and commitments,” the minister said.

Noting that the nexus between social sector outcomes and macro-economic performance is one that cannot be overlooked, Minister Singh said: “Our Government has placed the highest priority on implementing carefully crafted and disciplined macro-economic policies with the aim of promoting economic growth and development, while achieving and maintaining fiscal and external sustainability.

“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,” he said, adding that the resilience achieved by Guyana’s economy was amply demonstrated more 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.”

To more fully appreciate the achievements made so far, he said, one must consider 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, while adding that 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.

The growth of the economy, he said, has created fiscal space, thereby allowing the country to sustain and expand investment in the social sectors, which encapsulate several key goals of the MDGs.

“We have chosen to present this report under the theme ‘Guyana: Keeping our Promise – Meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. This encapsulates our country’s commitment to achieving the goals and signals that we are on track to meet most of the goals. Where we require an acceleration of efforts to meet targets we will do so,” the minister said, adding:

“The conclusion of the report is that Guyana is likely to meet several of the goals and will potentially meet others. Among the goals that we are on track to meeting are nutrition and food security, primary education, gender equality, child health, environmental sustainability…

“Even from this brief summary of the findings of the report, it is clear that Guyana’s achievement of the MDGs has been substantial. We have already met the targets for nutrition and child health, and we are on course to achieving many others including education and sanitation, HIV [and others]. We have identified key priorities in all areas particularly those which will require more concentrated efforts in the years to come.

“If the MDGs indeed are to be achieved by 2015, we will need to step up a collective effort. Civil society groups will need to focus their attention on supporting the achievements of the MDGs through targeted interventions in support of existing policy programmes [that will] serve to maximize the efforts of civil society.”

He said the private sector is another important group if the achievement of the goals is to be possible within the time frame. He said that there is a strong relationship between the efforts of the private sector and the country’s overall growth and development.
“In like manner, faith-based groups could exercise their influence over membership through more positive and development-oriented messages. It is for this reason that I am delighted that a wide cross-section of non-governmental stakeholders is present here today,” Dr Singh said.

Noting that achieving the MDGs cannot be confined to domestic or national efforts, the Minister said that success is dependent on effective partnerships. “Our best national efforts must be matched by adequate, predictable and consistent support from our development partners in helping us respond to our dynamic development needs,” he said. He said many of the initiatives Guyana undertook have been achieved with help from the development partners “and for that we are deeply appreciative.”

But he said that adequate and predictable development financing from external partners to support MDG attainment continues to be elusive. “Guyana will continue its strident advocacy that this long standing commitment of four decades ago also first made under the auspices of the United Nations be honoured even as we celebrate the progress made,” he said.

“The promise and pledge of this PPP/C Government is to build on the gains already made and to ensure steady advances in improving the circumstances of our country and citizens,” he said.