GUYANA has become one of the most attractive investment destinations worldwide, and in the last few months, has been exposed to many business opportunities both on a local and international level and even on a regional level. The Government has put in place many measures to provide potential business owners the opportunity to invest in Guyana to improve the economic level of activity, some of which include tax reductions/removals, incentives, and land accessibility.
The Government of Guyana aims to avoid the Dutch disease by focussing on the other sectors such as agriculture, agro-processing and food production, tourism and hospitality, health, education, trade/export and housing/infrastructure. These sectors will have spin off effects on each other.
For Guyana to become one of the richest countries in the world and become a developed country, the private sector is needed. The private sector consists of many talented, skilled think tanks that can provide products and services on a level that can help Guyana to be recognised as one of the top investment opportunists. Though the government can only provide assistance to an extent, it is up to these potential investors both locally and in the Guyanese Diaspora to make the necessary moves to help their homeland.

A country does not earn its wealth by draining the pockets of its citizens through taxes, rather it is being able to take less out of the citizens’ pockets but on a larger scale while ensuring that the people of the country have a comfortable standard of living. To put this in simpler terms, by having an array of income makes it easier for the country to earn more than having a limited stream of income where there will be restriction to use the little to suffice. When the taxes were introduced on fertilizers and machinery for agriculture, farmers were faced with financial difficulties which affected the agricultural performance. However, with the removal of those taxes, farmers are able to maximize their outputs and improve their quality of production. New markets have been sought for them internationally and investors from the tourism sectors, who have successfully managed to open new hotels and restaurants locally, will benefit from the farmers’ produce.

As the tourism industry grows, the agriculture industry will also grow simultaneously as people need to eat and foreigners want to enjoy the fresh produce of Guyana. This contributes to the creation of jobs. People earn money which they will use to purchase items, invest in other businesses, build a home, or even save in the bank which increases the bank’s cash supply to offer loans to potential borrowers. This simple process of providing opportunities to create more jobs will result in more money available to be circulated in the economy where the government will be able to earn more revenue at the comfort of its citizens.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Private Sector Commission (PSC) and Go-invest to provide local businesses access to investment opportunities. With this partnership, GO- invest will notify what incentives can be given to local businesses, unite the companies with international foreign direct investors thereby promoting joint ventures that will benefit both parties.

The Canada-Guyana Chambers of Commerce has been established in December 2020 due to the major economic transformation ahead for Guyana along with opportunities that will mutually benefit the countries through trade and other services. This opens doors for local businesses to partner with Canadian businesses to form mutual relationships that will benefit both countries. This increases markets for products internationally along with expanding local markets with the help of foreign investors. The local content policy which the President refers to as a ‘Living Policy” is currently in preparation with the aim of allowing businesses to reach international standards where they can compete globally and attain greater development levels. This will help local businesses to produce the high-quality products and services that are in great demand around the world.

Apart from natural gas power generation, local and foreign investors are interested in the waste-to-energy projects which consist of converting trash into megawatts of power. Since Guyana has a lot of garbage that is increasing tremendously daily, this initiative will help to reduce the waste being exposed around the country and help to provide a service that benefits the country in a great way. With alternative energy projects, operation costs for companies can be reduced dramatically which will improve efficiency and production. Investors interested in agro processing will be able to benefit tremendously from this initiative.
It is safe to say that increased taxes on items do not increase revenue. Guyana has the potential to achieve greater heights with its resources and once persons can maximize on these resources, Guyana will be able to earn more revenue from jobs created and from the trade of products and services.