GUYANESE have been urged to take advantage of what has been described by Senior Minister in the Office of the President Dr. Ashni Singh as “boundless opportunities”.
According to Dr. Singh, the Guyanese economy today is growing by leaps and bounds, the fastest growing economy in the world, growing at an average of more than 45 per cent over the last two years, with an anticipated growth rate of more than 25 per cent in real terms over the next three to five years.

This is quite an extraordinary feat for which full credit must be given to President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo who are the two main architects of the country’s transformative agenda.

During the recent meeting between President Ali and Lius Abinadar, President of the Dominican Republic, several collaborative agreements were signed which could see the establishment of an oil refinery in Guyana and a petrochemical plant, among several other developments.

These are all massive developmental projects which could potentially catapult Guyana as a manufacturing hub in the region.
An oil refinery in Guyana, apart from the obvious benefits in terms of cheaper oil and petroleum products, would also see the emergence of other value-added petrochemical products. Additionally, it will result in enhanced foreign exchange earnings and the creation of high-end job opportunities for Guyanese.

All of this is consistent with the balanced developmental trajectory embraced by the PPP/C administration based on agro-industrial growth and development.
Historically, Guyana has never benefitted optimally from its natural resources due to an outdated centre-periphery approach to development in which developing countries were seen as mere suppliers of raw materials for the metropolitan markets.

The raw materials were then processed into manufactured goods and sold to developing countries at exorbitant prices. One consequence of such skewed approach to development was adverse terms of trade and a consequential severe balance of payments burden on the part of developing countries.
In Guyana’s case during the colonial and the immediate post-colonial period, Guyana was producing raw materials mainly for the metropolitan markets with little or no value-added benefits.

This was true for our major exports such as sugar, bauxite, timber and gold. We were at a stage where paradoxically, we were consuming what we did not produce, and producing what we could not consume.

All of that has now changed with the great emphasis placed by the current PPP/C administration on food and energy security. Guyana is now once again the bread basket of the Caribbean.

Great emphasis is now being placed on alternative forms of green energy and climate mitigation measures as reflected in the revised Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) framework.

Without a doubt, the environment for development has changed since the days of PNC paramountcy when the State was regarded as the engine of growth. The private sector was not only marginalised but effectively squeezed out of developmental opportunities.

Thanks to the PPP/C administration, the private sector today is at the centre of the growth momentum, with the government doing its best to create an enabling environment for the private sector to invest and create wealth.
|
This is true for both local and foreign investors. This point was emphasised by President Ali when observed that foreign investors are treated equally as local investors.
According to President Ali, in many countries there is a disparity between the treatment of foreign investment and local investors.

In Guyana’s case, foreign investors are treated equally with local investors. As noted by the President, Guyana is seeking to create a new model “where foreign investors are local investors because of the way they partner with the private sector.”

What we are seeing in effect, in the words of President Ali, is a new ecosystem to facilitate the country’s massive expansion, one in which there is higher levels of collaboration between the government and investors in order to give impetus to the country’s development. Guyana is today one of the best investment destination in the world where opportunities truly abound.