-policy framework has been the basis

NOTWITHSTANDING the current political configuration in the National Assembly, an objective assessment of Guyana’s performance will lead to the inescapable conclusion that in the last two years, the strides made are indeed outstanding, according to Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.

Speaking during a recent television interview, on the economy and other issues, on Saturday he said: “Looking at recent economic developments in the region and around the world, there can be no doubt that real growth of GDP of approximately five percent per annum for the past eight years is an absolutely outstanding achievement…this achievement is by no stretch of the imagination an accidental one.”.
He added that the government has recognised fully, how inextricably linked economic growth is to the well-being of people. Continuous growth in the Guyanese economy has seen the creation of more jobs, and the generation of more income which are ultimately resulting in improved living conditions for citizens.
“We have worked very hard in successful PPP/C Administrations to ensure a policy framework that is conducive to sustained economy growth,” the minister said.
Economic performance in the last two years has not only seen GDP growth (which is the universally accepted measure of economic performance in a country), but all of the correlators are evident as well.
These include: strong inward foreign direct investment, continued growth in credit to the private sector, stable prices, low inflation rates which continue to trend downwards, and other key macroeconomic fundamentals remaining on a favourable trajectory. These indicators the Finance Minister explained are all pointing to growth and an environment that is conducive to such development.

Housing-Resounding success story
Singh said that oftentimes people do not realise how much their lives are changing for the better, simply because they are experiencing it every day, and as such the improvements are not evident to them in an obvious way as it would to an onlooker.
There have been steady improvements in every facet of national life particularly in the social sector (education, health, housing and water etc) to which approximately 30 percent of the national budget is allocated.
Singh pointed out that some of the most tangible successes are seen in the area of housing and homeownership.
“I believe that Guyana has emerged as the envy of many of the sister Caribbean countries in the area of housing and homeownership, we have had at least one Caribbean Prime Minister, say how extremely impressed he was when he saw the housing development that has been taking place in Guyana,” he said.
The Prime Minister that the Minister spoke of is St Vincent’s Dr. Ralph Gonsalves who, after visiting housing developments on the East Bank in September, said that Guyana’s housing development is an extraordinary one, and should be shared with the region.
The Finance Minister said that nobody can dispute the fact that almost 100,000 house lots have been distributed under the PPP/C Administration, and today there are almost 60,000 new homeowners.
“For each one of those individuals becoming an owner of real property, their lives are improving…if every year 5000 houselots are distributed and if on average the family size is three or four that’s 20,000 persons whose lives would have been improved by that single development…by the fact that their family became a land or property owner,” Minister Singh stated.

Job Creation
Over the years, there has been continued investor confidence in the Guyanese economy, higher than it has ever been, despite the prevailing political circumstances.
He spoke of companies such as Qualfon, a major international corporation in the ICT sector which has placed on record the view that Guyana is a good place to do business; informing that its operations in Guyana are the most competitive in its overall global operations. The company has invested millions of US dollars and is in the process of constructing another facility which will create thousands of  jobs.
“For the 6000 persons who will be working in that facility, their lives and the lives of their families will be improving and this story is replicated everywhere…it is replicated in thousands of Guyanese homes. People are acquiring qualifications, getting jobs, accumulating savings, becoming homeowners, buying their own means of transportation, growing their small businesses and accessing loans. This story is replicated in homes across Guyana and it represents improvement in personal circumstances,” Minister Singh said.
He reminded that the struggles of human existence will not disappear tomorrow, and that growth and development, particularly at a personal level, not only requires the right economic policy environment, which the Government has been creating, but also personal effort.

Selectivity vs. Objectivity
Turning his attention to the World Bank’s recently released report which rated Guyana the second poorest in the CARICOM, Minister Singh informed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the authoritative institution for assessing a country’s economic performance.
He lamented that unfortunately sometimes those who are competing for political space choose to be selective instead of objective with regards to these international reports.
Having assessed Guyana’s situation in terms of the challenges that it faces, the IMF arrived at extremely favourable conclusions in its last report about the country’s strong economic performance over a sustained period.
“If you want to speak of macroeconomic performance, we cannot ignore that other report which, incidentally comes from the authoritative institution, the IMF that was recently release…our political detractors find it convenient to ignore that report,” he said.
He added that strong economic performance in a country is not only something the Government alone can or should claim credit for. It is a result of governmental efforts to ensure a conducive policy environment, investors putting up their capital, and workers producing competitively every day to increase aggregate output.
For this reason he said, as a nation, people should not be grudging in acknowledging the strong performance of the economy.
“It’s to the credit of the workers of Guyana, investors in Guyana and to the credit of our Government…so every time the Opposition is disparaging of our economic growth they are not only being disparaging of the Government; they are being disparaging of every single Guyanese worker who wakes up every morning to go to work and works hard,” Singh reminded.
He explained that it is no secret that Guyana’s per capita GDP is lower than that of the Bahamas or Barbados. He stated that the fact of the matter is that 20 years ago Guyana’s GDP was on par with that of Haiti.
“What you need to look at is how rapidly Guyana’s GDP and per capita GDP have grown relative to other countries. It’s not only the question about examining levels…Guyana has made rapid and steady progress in lifting itself out of the circumstances that we found ourselves in 20 years ago,” he stated.
The Finance Minister acknowledged that Guyana still has a far way to go in terms of development and noted that the surest way to do that is to attract more investments, create more jobs and generate more income and output to strengthen the economy.
“What is unfortunate is that many of those who want to bandy these statistics around are the same people who are undermining the Government’s efforts to do just that,” he said.

(GINA)