AS a result of government and private sector efforts, the economy continues to grow, as in the first half of 2019, there was a growth rate of four per cent and expansion in the construction sector is leading the way.

This is according to Finance Minister, Winston Jordan during a press briefing on Wednesday at the Ministry of Finance on the mid-year 2019 report.

The minister said this growth compares favourably with the revised growth rate of five per cent for the first half of 2018, which was measured from 2017.

According to Jordon, the growth rate has been achieved in spite of weaker growth in the global economy and relatively unfavourable commodity prices in many sectors.
From the period 2015-2019, Minister Jordon said every year the economy grew.
In 2015, the economy grew 3.2 per cent; in 2016, growth was 3.4 per cent; in 2017, it was 2.1 per cent; in 2018, it expanded 4.1 per cent and 4.5 per cent in 2019.

“If we were to compare the first five years of Mr. Jagdeo’s presidency because he loves to compare, so let’s do the comparison; in 2001, it was 1.9 per cent; 2002, it was 1.1 per cent; 2003, it was -0.6 per cent; in 2004, it was 1.6 per cent and in 2005, it was -5.5 per cent, the picture is there and it needs no further analysis,” the finance minister said.

However, the finance minister said global price ranges for Guyana’s commodities were mostly negative for the first half of 2019 when we compared to the same period in 2018.
“For example, the international price of rice declined by 6.1 per cent; timber weakened by 1.3 per cent, these are international prices and not Guyana’s. Sugar remained relatively unchanged but there was a slight increase in June. Aluminum was down eight per cent,” the finance minister noted.

Meanwhile, he said in terms of the four per cent growth in the first half, rice grew by 3.7 per cent in spite of paddy bugs infestations, and there was a record yield in the first crop.

“Other crops grew by 4.8 per cent and this was driven by root crops, spices and vegetables. Gold grew by 4.4 per cent spurred by declarations of small and medium miners; forestry grew by 8.5 per cent and this was driven by small and medium-scale concessionaires; manufacturing which is critical to our economy expanded by 3.6 per cent and this was driven by rice, and like manufacturing, included pharmaceuticals, beverages, edible items and timber products; construction expanded by 8.2 per cent on the account of both public and private investments,” the finance minister revealed.

SERVICES SECTOR EXPANDED
He said that the services sector expanded by 4.6 per cent which was driven by wholesale and retail trade which increased by 5.9 per cent while the transportation and storage sectors grew by 5.5 per cent. Financial and insurance activities increased by 4.1 per cent and other services sector activities by 10 per cent.

Further, the finance minister noted that expansions were also recorded for sand and stone productions, with sand standing at 9.2 per cent and stone with 15.1 per cent, which are consistent with the expanding construction sector.

Nevertheless, the minister said sugar contracted by 2.7 per cent; livestock by 8.1 per cent; fishing by 21.2 per cent; and bauxite by 2.9 per cent.

“Given that majority of the production sectors demonstrated strong growth; these collectively were more than enough to offset a few areas of reduction. Given this buoyant outlook, we have revised the end of year growth rate to 4.5 per cent from the 4.4 per cent we had revised in April when the IMF mission was here,” the finance minister said.

However, he cautioned that this year’s overall projection could be hampered by the political climate dating back to last December when the no-confidence motion was passed by the National Assembly, in addition to poor weather.

“Political uncertainty can have an impact in growth,” he said.
For 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission projects real economic growth of 4.4 per cent, driven by continued strength in the construction and services sectors ahead of oil production in 2020, and strong recovery in mining.

IMF explained that missions are undertaken as part of regular, usually annual, consultations under Article IV of the IMF’s Articles of Agreement, in the context of a request to borrow from the fund, as part of discussions of staff monitored programmes, or as part of other staff monitoring of economic developments.