— no major investment in past five years, says GO-Invest CEO
— gov’t moving to fix situation, GO-Invest to be proactive

GUYANA’S ability to attract investors was limited over the past five years and this was due mainly to the ‘unfavourable’ policies implemented by the former APNU+AFC administration, said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop.

“Under the previous government, there were zero investment opportunities because of the taxation they did in the early stages… they expanded land fees, irrigation fees, licensing fees and there were tax implications for businesses,” said Dr. Ramsaroop during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday.
The new government, while in Opposition, had said that the former administration extracted some $300 billion more in additional taxes over the past five years. Some persons even argued that tax measures, instituted by the past administration, were cumbersome.
Additional taxes included Value-Added Tax (VAT) on utilities and reducing the list of zero-rated items. In economics, zero-rated supply refers to items subject to a 0 per cent VAT on their input supplies.

“It was not a conducive environment for investors to come in, both local and foreign investors… They actually chased away investors,” Dr. Ramsaroop lamented.
This, he said, is evidenced by the lack of major investments over the past five years. And, in his view, there were zero major investments.
“There were small investments, like people looking to build hotels and so, but none of those came into fruition… it was a minimal number and none of those investments created jobs… my measure of investment is if it creates jobs for Guyanese,” said Dr. Ramsaroop.

Past reports show that some 30,000 persons were unemployed, including over 7,000 sugar workers who were ‘stripped’ of a job when the former administration closed four sugar estates.
The ‘small’ investments, as described by Dr. Ramsaroop, did not change the local situation or improve the trajectory of the local economy, which has further suffered because of a protracted electoral process and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Although not denying that there were opportunities where Guyana could have attracted and facilitated major investments, he said the policies and lack of initiatives discouraged investors from putting their money into any local project.

NO MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
Unlike what obtained over the past five years, Dr. Ramsaroop was confident that there will be no missed opportunities going forward.
“Guyana is open for business…we are attractive now from an investment perspective and I see that growing,” said the CEO.
Prior to the passage of Budget 2020, it was reported that after re-prioritising and re-programming fiscal measures, the new People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has managed to add $20 billion in relief to the “pockets” of Guyanese.

The conduits of relief include revised tax measures and sweeping incentives, which were announced by President, Dr Irfaan Ali. Among these measures are the removal of Value-Added Tax (VAT) on electricity and water, all exports, pesticides and agro-chemicals, and building and construction materials, among other things.
The broad objectives of those measures, which feature in Government’s emergency budget, are aimed at stimulating economic activity; getting persons back to work; increasing Guyana’s productive capacity; reducing the cost of doing business; improving efficiency; and facilitating growth and development of businesses.
With more disposable income in the local economy and business-friendly policies, it is anticipated that the economy will flourish and attract major investments.
In the October edition of its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, the IMF projected that Guyana’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would increase by 26.2 per cent.

LINING UP
“Investors are already lining up to be part of our growth… we have lots of companies expressing interest in agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, oil and gas, and other areas,” said Dr. Ramsaroop.

President Ali recently said that progress is expected on all fronts in 2021, a year pegged to be the year of investments and development.
“What you will see next year is a flurry of development… there will be active work on the new Demerara Harbour Bridge, the new four-lane road, new hotels and the creation of 50,000 homes,” said the President.

He said too that work will commence on the construction and rehabilitation of roads in hundreds of communities; new infrastructure will be created; and there will be major developments in every sector.

Additionally, private-sector investments are expected to increase, stretching from the construction of new shore bases to service the oil-and-gas sector, to new office complexes and other private development projects.

“There are many investment opportunities, so we will be positioning ourselves to facilitate those investments,” said Dr. Ramsaroop, adding that GO-Invest will not be reactive.
The agency has already started crafting sectoral investment profiles, which will be used to identify Guyana’s needs, investment incentives and even help investors to determine their rate of return. Those sectoral profiles will also be used to market Guyana regionally and internationally.