THE Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is happy that the 2015 Budget has finally been presented.The GCCI issued the following statement last evening:

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is first of all pleased that a budget has finally been presented to the National Assembly for the year 2015.
It is our belief that the budget provides the clearest picture of a Government’s intentions and therefore serves as a guide for the investment and related economic activities of the private sector. In this vein, our initial observations are as follows:
The Government has committed to the enacting of legislation for e-commerce/e-transactions, the recognition of electronic signatures for document certification and data protections. We would have also wished for a definitive commitment on the modernisation of our intellectual property legislation, but hope this will [be] a part of the overall process. We also hope for the enactment of all this legislation way before 2020.
In the education sector, the Chamber also supports the distribution of laptops to educators, students, institutions and community-based organisations. This will address the issue of not enough students having access to tools critical for their education and development. The creation of an Information Technology School of Excellence is welcome. The Chamber urges that it is positioned carefully, taking into consideration the critical role the University of Guyana plays via its Department of Computer Studies.
Government has provided relief for the gold industry with a waiving of custom duties. We are still not certain if this will completely solve the problems of the industry, since the price of the commodity continues to decline. It is hoped that efforts continue to be made to produce gold more efficiently.
We note the allocation of $8B to the sugar industry, but support without reservation the minister’s statement about the need to decide quickly on the future of the Guyana Sugar Corporation. It would be indeed unfortunate if the nation is faced with continuing to provide subventions of this size. The need to decide whether or not GuySuCo can operate under an economic model that can contribute to the national economy is paramount.
This concern also pertains to the rice industry in terms of its ability to compete pricewise on the international market. The Chamber would also urge that a review of the functions and overall effectiveness of the GRDB should be part of the support given to the industry. We can ill afford to run the risk of subsidising rice as well.
We strongly agree with the minister about the need to inculcate a culture of data collection, data use, data dissemination and storage. The implementation of benchmarks and rigid evaluation of same are also welcome.
We wish to congratulate the Minister of Finance on the presentation of a budget that is fair and shows a clear understanding of the challenges that face us as a nation. We must comment, however, that at $G221 billion, this is a fairly large budget, especially when one considers that there are only about four and a half months left in the year. The Chamber hopes therefore that all agencies understand that there must be an agile procurement and project-implementation process to ensure that these funds are spent effectively.