Georgetown: The country has been experiencing a notable economic downturn during this year so far, and more so, this problem has escalated in the past few months, resulting in many persons in both the Private and Public Sectors having to suffer tremendously.
In some cases, persons have been laid off from their jobs while others are contemplating their next move in light of their financial woes.
However, Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Dr Gobind Ganga, on Wednesday told reporters that it expected that the economic state in the country will see some positivity by the end of this year.
He noted that during any general election in the country, the performance of the economy is affected as he referred to the recent General and Regional Election held in Guyana on May 11.
Guyana Times understands that the country’s economy has been adversely affected because the agricultural, mining and retailing sectors are facing major difficulties at present – these sectors make up the backbone of the economy. This negative impact, however, is not unexpected.
According to Dr Ganga, there are periods when an economy is “booming” and then there are times when the economy experiences a slowdown.
“There is always seasonality in terms of performance of the economy whenever we have elections and we did indeed have a slowdown. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we have a bumper rice crop, increase in sugar production, some positive with respect to the mining sector and also the services sector. So we should have an outcome towards the end of the year which is acceptable,” he explained.
This publication also understands that while the banking sector has been affected by the economic downturn in Guyana it was not unexpected.
“We had a decline in commodity prices and for commodity exporting countries obviously where people are reacting, that is economic agencies are reacting to prices, then you have some situation with respect to some downward movement in production. We are hoping to have an upward climb, we have three more months to go… We have seen currency in circulation to be at the level that it was towards the end of June,” the Bank of Guyana official said.
He also noted that during special occasions and holidays in the country it more often than not results in more spending by the public.
Regardless, if during other periods there is low spending, it is during these times that persons would ensure that monies are spent for various purposes.
“You always have seasonality whenever you have a major event for example Christmas or Easter. You will find that there will be upwards swing and then it will come back down. So we have seen those situations playing out in terms of the cycle,” Dr Ganga posited.
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