President Donald Ramotar last evening met with the Guyanese community in Brooklyn, New York, where he updated them on the economic, social and political developments in Guyana.
The president in his address spoke of a number of initiatives his government is pursuing to propel the country from a developing middle income country to the “next level”.
The Guyanese Head of State highlighted the current achievements, aspirations and challenges his government faces on a daily basis, in its quest to continue Guyana’s social and economic development. He told the large gathering of Guyanese that despite the global economic and financial crises over the years, Guyana managed to weather the storm and keep its head above water, managing to record eight years of consecutive economic growth.
“…that is in my view, a remarkable achievement, taking into consideration, Europe and North America in particular are our country’s biggest trading partners, and whatever happens in those countries affect us,” the president explained
He also spoke to the issue of sugar, rice and bauxite, explaining that at one point the Guyanese economy depended mainly on those three commodities and currently sugar and bauxite are faced with some difficulties, including those on the international front.
However, despite these challenges, the economy continues to do well, fulfilling a promise his PPP/Civic government has made to broaden the base of the Guyanese economy to ensure external economic and financial shocks are minimised.
“I think we have done that fundamentally, not only because we pursue the right economic policies, but because we also pursue the right social policies. For instance if you examine our budgets over the years… you will see that the biggest expenditure goes to the social sector, where we think we can have that impact, a positive impact on people’s lives directly. We use our social policy as a way to redistribute income within the society itself, and that is why about 30 percent of our budget almost, goes to the social sector and the largest amount of the social sector budget goes to education, then health, housing and so forth, that’s how the priority is,” President Ramotar said.
Such a policy, he added, goes to the fundamental philosophy of his government, where the most important factor of development is not only the country’s natural resources, but rather the quality of its people. He added that it is for these reasons his government has been over the years investing in people.
The president expounded on the country’s success in the education, housing and other sectors, all geared at improving the social and economic well-being of Guyana and its people.
Speaking to the negative impact of not having cheap energy, he urged the Diaspora to help exert pressure on the opposition to support the Amaila Hydropower Project.
“ If you ask me what is the biggest impediment to development in our country, I will say unhesitatingly to you that it is the lack of cheap energy, we need to have cheap energy in our country to make us more competitive, and if you look at where we are located, all our neighbours have cheap energy,” the noted.
The current political uncertainty, due to the unpredictable behaviour of the combined opposition, which holds a one-seat majority in the National Assembly to undermine the country’s developmental gains and return it to a state of paralysis, like what obtained under the People’s National Congress (PNC) was also touched on by the President. Their cuts to the budget which affected the Specialty Hospital, Amerindian Development Fund, Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and hinterland airstrips among others were highlighted.
He told the gathering that he doesn’t have a developmental partner on the other side of the table and that one of the excuses they make is that the government doesn’t consult with them.
“When I got in office (2011) I invited the two opposition parties on the Amaila Falls Project…in 2012 when we were negotiating the budget they said to me look man, at that time the old age pension was $8,600 and they asked me if I would raise it to $10,000. I said ok…we continued the discussions, we talked about the subsidy on electricity for Linden and we pointed out to them and they agreed. I must say that they agreed that we wanted to eventually bring the level of what people were paying (in Linden) to what people were paying on the coast….they agreed and then when comrade Sam Hinds read the statement (in the National Assembly) which they agreed to, Mr. (David) Granger said they did not agree to that,” he said.
The president also clarified a number of issues for the Diaspora including the restoration of the budget cuts, local government elections and the Opposition’s no confidence motion among other issues.
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