Georgetown : Economically, Guyana has progressed under the macroeconomic policies and programmes initiated by government, but there is still more to be done to ensure that it remains on the path to further development. This was the view expressed by Director (Economics Department) of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Dr. Justin Ram during a presentation at the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 124th Annual Gala and Awards Ceremony at the Pegasus.
He posited that several measures should be implemented to consolidate the gains obtained thus far under the present administration. Dr Ram called on Guyana’s private sector to assume the lead position in advocating for growth, adding that based on the current trajectory, Guyana would achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by the stipulated date (2015) in education, gender and environment.
Despite these achievements, he said, Guyana’s economy still faces challenges. “In this regard there have been a number of constraints identified by private sector stakeholders. These include the restrictions to and the high cost of credit, the absence of research and development facilities for the manufacturing sector, the complete scarcity of managerial capacity and skills due to migration, lengthy bureaucratic processes associated with industries and the commercial private sector, the
It was noted that several of these issues were highlighted in the World Bank’s Doing Business report for 2013 and unfortunately resulted in Guyana being ranked at 120 out of 189, overall, for ease of doing business. The results of this and other bench marking exercises suggest that the reforms and policy agendas need to be continued apace, Dr Ram added.
The CDB is partnering with government to help resolve several of them, he said. Among these is a fund to assist with the formation of the Caricom Single Market Economy, which, along with other measures will help Guyana along the path towards possessing an economy driven by efficiency rather by the basic factors of production, he said, “The transition will require a focus on higher education, improving the technological readiness of the economy and developing its financial markets”.
Dr Ram recommended that the country look to force greater internal and external collaboration as it seeks to move the economy forward, “Prosperity now requires building on a strong foundation established, strong investments and critical reforms. The CDB and other developmental partners are ready to collaborate with Guyana in this regard. The effort will also require a strong partnership between the private sector and government to build consensus on the priority agenda, so substantial progress has been made but the journey is far from over”.
A call was also made for the private sector to take the lead in preparing for potential natural disasters given the fact that agriculture and natural resource extraction remain main driving forces in the local economy. In closing Dr Ram said that properly measured economic growth is the return on the asset base of capital of the economy, “thus economic growth is really a function and stock of assets as well as the productivity of economies. Therefore as assets are extracted and depleted you the private sector must ensure that investment is made in other types of assets such as human capital, plants and machinery, telecommunications and infrastructure since these will be the assets that will help support growth in the future… The economy must also be invested in to sustain economic growth in the future.”
Opening more links with international partners will also further boost the economy’s growth, he noted and urged stakeholders to execute their future plans with a consistency akin to that as displayed by Guyanese born West Indian batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
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