Georgetown : Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, in his first presentation to the National Assembly, described the 2015 National Budget as, “a peoples’ budget.”
According to Gaskin, the 2015 Budget is carefully designed to guarantee all Guyanese a good life. He noted that, it was always the plan of the new Administration to focus on business since, “it is not only the engine, but also the driver of economic growth and innovation.”
He stated that “Entrepreneurial initiatives are one of the main tools for achieving the good life.” He highlighted that when business is done properly; there will be increased employment and empowerment, “especially for vulnerable groups such as the Indigenous people, youths and women.”
Highlighting some of the initiatives the Government will be able to undertake with the allocations of the 2015 Budget, Gaskin spoke of a Help Desk for Businesses that will soon be established.
According to the Minister, this will be a single point of contact for information and tailored advice among businesses, traders and the Government.
He pointed out that there is an urgent need for implementing measures to encourage greater and wider compliance with international standards and, making the entire institutional framework transparent, so as to reduce corruption and enhance overall efficiency.
In this regard, the new licencing process, manned by the Commerce Department will make obsolete the triplicate paper work that created bottle-necks when the PPPC was in Government.
Minister Gaskin announced that within a short period of time, business transactions would be facilitated by a Single Window System for which the foundation is now being laid. This means that matters can be effected within 24 hours, and in a level playing field, so that small businesses are not side-lined.
Specifically touching on Small Business Enterprise, Gaskin pointed to the capitalisation of the ‘20% Procurement Initiative’ which provides that at least 20 per cent of all Government contracts must be awarded to small businesses. In expounding on this, the Minister was keen to note that this will result in more jobs being created. More so, millions would be made available in the form of grants and loans to aid the development of small micro-enterprises.
The Minister also mentioned that where small business are concerned, there will be help in the form of loans, grants, and training, since the immediate goal, during 2015, is the creation of over 400 new jobs, training hundreds of businesses, and the release of tens of millions in affordable financing
Touching on the vital role of Go-Invest, the Minister stated that via Go-Invest, Guyana will be presented as a good place to do business and also, that the entity will present Guyana’s products as being worthy of export, since “investors are turned off when there is a lack of transparency and plenty of red-tape, bureaucracy to by-pass.”
Minister Gaskin made direct reference to an allocation of $ 220,320,000 for Go-Invest. According to the Minister, there will be “heavy emphasis” on capacity building under “fresh management.” He also addressed facilitating investments-foreign and domestic, via strengthening assistance to investors, in terms of granting permits and allowing for appropriate concessions.
Turning his attention to the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS), the Minister said that for 2015, $16 million has been allocated to purchase a truck and a weight-cart, to enable GNBS to expand its quality of service outside of Georgetown.
During his presentation, Minister Gaskin made it clear that there will be no “shutting out” based on any factor, not ethnicity, gender nor location. He addressed the outworking of a New Industrial Policy, where the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) will be engaged in only the proper leasing and proper functioning of estates, so that “ands are used for their intended purposes, and nothing else.
To this end, the Minister highlighted that the Budget 2015 allocates over $800 M for the building of roads and other infrastructural inputs in Lethem, to facilitate the development of industrial estates in that community.
Gaskin noted that the intention of the Ministry of Business is all about making a good life possible for everyone in Guyana. “That is why, for example, within a short space of time, there was the reduction in Berbice River Bridge toll as people were crying out for relief,” he said. He stated that even though the Bridge was built under a public-private sector partnership, Government respected all rights of the private company and also all laws of land and so the reduction was lawfully done.
Addressing some of the challenges of his Ministry, he stated that the new Administration has been seriously disadvantaged by the former People’s Progressive PartyCivic Government.
Gaskin explained that the former holder of his office, Irfaan Ali, left a number of ill-conceived and not properly documented projects. These would require financing; in addition to the projects original costs, if the people are to benefit from them in any way.
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