Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has reported that, over the last five years, Guyana’s fiscal deficit has decreased from 10 to four percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as government continues to invest in critical productive sectors.
“We have moved today from a place where we had effectively no external reserves to a point today where we have an equivalent of five months of imports covered in external reserves,” he said.
The minister also noted that: “It would be fair to say that we have, as a country, recorded considerable progress in addressing main development challenges that we have faced…Guyana has been able to bring the country from bankruptcy to one where, today, its economy is now viable and viewed as credit worthy by the world at large.”
These economic achievements have been recognised by the UNDP which observed that this country has been undergoing noteworthy changes.
“Guyana is experiencing significant changes in all sectors of the country, and in addition to the exploration for oil, if successful, will expand the development opportunities available to Guyana in the coming years,” UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Khadija Musa said.
In addition, for the last five consecutive years Guyana has been averaging an economic growth of over 4.5% when many countries, in face of the global financial crisis, have been experiencing negative or minimal growth.
This is remarkable when one considers that this was achieved in a harsh global economic environment characterised by huge financial upheavals, instability and escalating fuel prices.
But not only that: when this government came into office in 1992, following the historic October 5 elections, the national economy was in tatters; infrastructure was in a virtual state of collapse; there was a huge US$2.1 billion foreign debt; the public health and education systems were in chaos and there were no foreign reserves; shortages of food and essential items; and agricultural output was at its lowest ebb, etc.
Therefore, restoring our economy to one of growth, reducing our foreign debt by 50%, resuscitating the agricultural sector, refurbishing of infrastructure, etc, was a herculean task and the government, and in particular those who have been entrusted with the management of our national economy, rose effectively and resiliently to the challenges.
And they must be given credit for managing the economy in a prudent and shrewd manner.
Unfortunately, the detractors and those opposed to the government have been making all sorts of wild, baseless and unsubstantiated allegations against the government in relation to the management of the economy.
However, they have failed to make any significant impact with their allegations as the facts and statistics glaringly nullify their contentions.
The major global financial institutions including the IMF and World Bank, as well as the UNDP have praised Guyana’s macroeconomic management. The credibility of these global institutions are unquestionable and therefore,  there is no latent reason(s) why they should give undue praise to this government for its shrewd management of the economy.