Georgetown: The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) has said that its members are reporting a significant drop in business amid the current political climate.
According to the chamber, it has been observing and noting the occurrences in Guyana’s political environment and is concerned about the effect of the impact of the associated uncertainty on the business community.
The GCCI said it has conducted a survey in the wider business community which set out to gauge the effect of the political environment on business performance.
From the results, 64 % of respondents, or about two in every three businesses, experienced some form of decline due to uncertainty over the state of political affairs in Guyana.
“For those businesses which registered a decline in activity, approximately 85 % experienced a 25 % to 50 % drop in the level of commercial activity. The remaining 15% experienced 75% to 100% (percent) decline in business.”
According to the chamber, this significant decline in commercial activity is worrying and with the continued state of political uncertainty can result in further decline in economic activity.
“From a national development perspective, the climate of uncertainty does not bode well for investors’ confidence, both local and foreign, as well as business planning, budgeting and other key features of business management and administration. The Chamber remains hopeful that an environment which encourages investment prevails.
GCCI said its membership size is over 240 business organizations which include micro to enterprise type levels, located throughout the country and in the CARICOM region.
“We therefore emphasize the need for national leaders to expediently resolve political issues that exist in order to restore and boost investors’ confidence, which would result in Guyana’s economy growing comfortably.”
The Government and the Opposition are at a stalemate over a no-confidence vote that was tabled by the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.
The no-confidence vote, according to the Constitution of Guyana, was supposed to have triggered elections in 90 days.
However, Government has gone to court to challenge the vote.
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