There has been a sudden hue and cry about our national debt by the

anti-PPP/government forces led by an opposition politician who left the PPP because he is so bitter and upset that he did not get the nod as presidential candidate during the last general elections.

This individual, along with some of his acolytes, are seeking to turn a non-issue into one of urgent importance and one of his colleagues even wrote a preposterous letter accusing the government of ‘borrowing to steal’.
But that letter writer should know better, because the checks and balances the International Financial Institutions (IFIs)  have in place make it almost impossible for financial improprieties.
However, what is the reality with the issue of our national debt? The fact is that the previous government could hardly show any development for its legacy of a US$2.1 billion national debt.
In fact, one of the major reasons for ratcheting up such a huge debt is that the economy was in such a poor state that the government could not have afforded to service its debt and had to borrow to repay interests on foreign loans. This certainly ‘rattles the soul’, to borrow a phrase from this politician who is making a lot of empty noise about our national debt rising.
What these ‘Columbuses’ are not telling the Guyanese people is that under the previous (PNC) government, 96 cents of every dollar earned were being used to repay debts, but today just about 15 cents of every dollar earned is used to repay debts.  So these ‘sailors’ should cease from trying to hoodwink the Guyanese people.
What they are also not telling the Guyanese people is that foreign loans were frozen because our economy became bankrupt. Today, under this government, we have returned to credit worthiness and that is why we can easily obtain loans from the IFIs to continue improving our infrastructure, education and health care systems, etc.
The fact is, every single cent from loans borrowed by this government reflects development in every corner across this country unlike what happened under the previous government.
It is important to note too that our economy is much larger than what it was when our national debt was at US$2.1 billion; logically if the debt has been reduced to US$1.7 billion in terms of debt service ratio it would be less. You do not have to be an Economics expert to understand and appreciate this. So these ‘Columbuses’ must have studied “voodoo economics.”
A lot of dust is also being kicked up about the debt forgiveness by the international financing community which has resulted in significant reduction of our national debt, almost by 50% of what it was. But these perennial critics are painting a picture as if the international financial community just unilaterally cancelled debts and therefore Guyana received debt cancellation and  debt relief on a platter. On the contrary, the debt relief came as a result of protracted and hard lobbying and negotiations.
The politician who is making a mountain out of a mole hill with respect to our national debt will remember that it was the  late and revered President Dr Cheddi Jagan who was among the first advocates of debt write-offs and debt relief for developing countries, convincingly arguing that they are caught in a vicious cycle and would never be able to repay their debts.
So the anti-PPP forces clearly are not au fait with reality or are deliberately distorting it because only recently the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) heaped praise on the performance of the Guyanese economy and made optimistic predictions of its future performance.
It is therefore evidently clear that the opposition is running out of issues on which to criticise the government and is simply trying to trump up criticisms and, in this instance, is on a rotten limb and would surely receive a hard fall.
Earlier, they tried to make Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee the target to rally around and seemingly that is heading in the same direction as a damp squib so they are attempting to find another limb to jump on. Unfortunately, they are not as skillful as the monkey who knows what limb to jump on.

Making a mountain out of a mole hill
There has been a sudden hue and cry about our national debt by the anti-PPP/government forces led by an opposition politician who left the PPP because he is so bitter and upset that he did not get the nod as presidential candidate during the last general elections.
This individual, along with some of his acolytes, are seeking to turn a non-issue into one of urgent importance and one of his colleagues even wrote a preposterous letter accusing the government of ‘borrowing to steal’.
But that letter writer should know better, because the checks and balances the International Financial Institutions (IFIs)  have in place make it almost impossible for financial improprieties.
However, what is the reality with the issue of our national debt? The fact is that the previous government could hardly show any development for its legacy of a US$2.1 billion national debt.
In fact, one of the major reasons for ratcheting up such a huge debt is that the economy was in such a poor state that the government could not have afforded to service its debt and had to borrow to repay interests on foreign loans. This certainly ‘rattles the soul’, to borrow a phrase from this politician who is making a lot of empty noise about our national debt rising.
What these ‘Columbuses’ are not telling the Guyanese people is that under the previous (PNC) government, 96 cents of every dollar earned were being used to repay debts, but today just about 15 cents of every dollar earned is used to repay debts.  So these ‘sailors’ should cease from trying to hoodwink the Guyanese people.
What they are also not telling the Guyanese people is that foreign loans were frozen because our economy became bankrupt. Today, under this government, we have returned to credit worthiness and that is why we can easily obtain loans from the IFIs to continue improving our infrastructure, education and health care systems, etc.
The fact is, every single cent from loans borrowed by this government reflects development in every corner across this country unlike what happened under the previous government.
It is important to note too that our economy is much larger than what it was when our national debt was at US$2.1 billion; logically if the debt has been reduced to US$1.7 billion in terms of debt service ratio it would be less. You do not have to be an Economics expert to understand and appreciate this. So these ‘Columbuses’ must have studied “voodoo economics.”
A lot of dust is also being kicked up about the debt forgiveness by the international financing community which has resulted in significant reduction of our national debt, almost by 50% of what it was. But these perennial critics are painting a picture as if the international financial community just unilaterally cancelled debts and therefore Guyana received debt cancellation and  debt relief on a platter. On the contrary, the debt relief came as a result of protracted and hard lobbying and negotiations.
The politician who is making a mountain out of a mole hill with respect to our national debt will remember that it was the  late and revered President Dr Cheddi Jagan who was among the first advocates of debt write-offs and debt relief for developing countries, convincingly arguing that they are caught in a vicious cycle and would never be able to repay their debts.
So the anti-PPP forces clearly are not au fait with reality or are deliberately distorting it because only recently the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) heaped praise on the performance of the Guyanese economy and made optimistic predictions of its future performance.
It is therefore evidently clear that the opposition is running out of issues on which to criticise the government and is simply trying to trump up criticisms and, in this instance, is on a rotten limb and would surely receive a hard fall.
Earlier, they tried to make Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee the target to rally around and seemingly that is heading in the same direction as a damp squib so they are attempting to find another limb to jump on. Unfortunately, they are not as skillful as the monkey who knows what limb to jump on.