AS Guyanese inch closer to the New Year there are already signs of a growing mood of hope and optimism.
To begin with, Guyanese will have greater spending power thanks to significant increases in wages and salaries to workers in the public sector. These increases are significantly above the current level of inflation, which in effect, meant that there is a higher level of disposable income. Put differently, there is a bigger basket of goods and services as a consequence of such increases.

The inflation rate measures a broad rise or fall in prices that consumers pay for a basket of goods and services. Guyana’s inflation rate for 2022 stands at 5.8 per cent, according to the Bank of Guyana which is below the global average of 8.2 per cent, resulting mainly from increased fuel and commodity prices as a consequence of the war in Ukraine and disruptions to supply chain globally due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Guyana, unlike many countries, was able to mitigate the impact of the rising cost of living through the implementation of several policy interventions which included, but not limited, to a reduction and subsequent removal of the excise tax on imported fuel, cash supplements to vulnerable groups, removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on a wide range of consumers, subsidies to water and electricity especially for senior citizens. These interventions, when coupled with the salary increases announced by President Ali, have resulted in a much higher level of disposable income to the Guyanese working people.

The salary increases, it should be noted, is not limited to public sector employees. Sugar workers also are the beneficiaries of increases comparable to that of those in the regular public service. The fact that the increases are retroactive to January of this year has further strengthened the purchasing power of the Guyanese people especially at this festive season of the year when there is greater pressure on consumer spending.

This mood of optimism, however, goes beyond the increases in wages and salaries. According to the Bank of Guyana Half Year Report 2022, the Guyana economy continued its growth momentum with real oil GDP growth at 36.4 per cent and non-oil GDP growth of 8.3 per cent.

Oil production of 34.6 million barrels is the main contributor to the former growth, while quarrying, construction, and agriculture and service sector activities contributed to the former growth. The economy benefitted from government budgeted fiscal spending, removal of all COVID-19 restrictions as well as accommodative monetary policies.

These are indeed laudable developments which auger well for sustained economic growth and development in Guyana. The same however cannot be said for the wider global economy which is expected to grow by a mere 3.2 per cent due to widespread supply chain disruptions, reduced fiscal space, tighter financial conditions and escalating inflation.
The performance of the Guyana economy for this year is nothing short of stellar thanks to prudent economic and fiscal management by the PPP/C administration. This growth trajectory is most likely to pick up momentum in the coming years as the economy becomes more robust and consolidated. Given this growth and developmental trends, Guyanese have every reason to be optimistic that better days are ahead.

The political opposition apparently is finding it difficult to adjust to these new and changing realities and is seeking to create an alternative narrative which is at complete odds with current realities. It is trying, unsuccessfully, to create the impression that the working class is not given a fair share of the country’s patrimony, especially in the context of our newly-found petroleum riches.

They complain of ‘bad deals’ with the oil companies, ignoring the fact that such ‘deals’ were entered into by the Granger-led APNU+AFC administration. And as if those were not enough, it is now seeking to play the ‘race’ card by falsely alleging that Afro-Guyanese are being discriminated against by the current administration.
Nothing can be further from the truth. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and Guyanese today of all ethnicities, political orientation and religious persuasions are the beneficiaries of an expanding national pie. No amount of propaganda by opposition elements will suffice to negate this fact.

President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and the entire PPP/C administration must be commended for resolutely staying the course, the destabilising stance of the political opposition notwithstanding.