Business Summit a reform catalyst for Govt’s economic agenda

…analyst finds APNU/AFC policy measures lack depth

International Financial Analyst Sasenarine Singh has expressed optimism that the Private Sector Commission’s Business Summit, to be held in this coming week, would offer some level of “reform to this backward Granger economic agenda.  It is time to put wealth creation at the heart of human development.”
The former Alliance For Change (AFC) Executive Member made the scathing remarks over the weekend, during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Times, saying: “The only word that comes to my mind when I observe the operations of this Granger regime is a word that President Obama popularised –shambolic. Since President Granger took the reins of power, it has been all pain/no gain for the people, and this is the indisputable fact.”

In fact, Singh believes, “If, at this point in time — after two and a half years in power; if even 1/10 of that set of promises from Mr Granger in the 2015 elections manifesto (were) achieved, we as a people would have something to point to. But the reality (that) they have not even achieved 1/50 of their promises exposes the Granger cabal as anti-business and anti-human development and clueless.”
Singh told Guyana Times, “The facts are: there isn’t job creation going on in this economy. Actually, since Mr. Granger came to power, there has been a net destruction of jobs in Guyana…That is something that all of the people living in Guyana should be really worried about.”
He said, “That is why I welcome this Private Sector Business Summit… It is my fervent hope that, as an outcome of this Summit, the Private Sector can raise their issues and their voices, and the State Sector can respond positively with new mechanism and incentives to break down the barriers to investing in Guyana. It is my dream that the Private Sector can take their rightful place as the engine of growth.”
According to Singh, it is unfortunate that President Granger “is more obsessed with Burnhamism, rather than the fundamental concept of growing the economy…The fact remains (that) without the Private Sector investing, they will not be creating new jobs, and the economy will stagnate.”
The evidence of this is already present in Guyana in 2017 Singh said.
He told Guyana Times that unless the barriers to showcasing Guyana as a world-class investment destination are broken down, the foreign direct investment will not come. “Until the local and foreign investors open their checkbooks, we are not going to see piles being driven into the ground to build new factories, and we will not see the new people being hired.”
According to the international Financial Analyst, it is extremely challenging “to escape the fact that all of this economic retrogression is self-inflicting, totally created by the decision makers in the Granger regime. One example of this disaster can be highlighted by that monstrous decision to kill the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, (which) is directly contributing to this economic implosion.”
The International Monetary Fund had stated in its 2010 Report on Guyana that this project would have injected some 2% expansion in the economy above the normal rate for four years during construction. “Granger killed this project and that 2% growth opportunity,” according to Singh.
He also observed that since Granger became President, the management of the Public Sector Investment Programme has been executed in the most horrendous way imaginable. “So much so that even Burnham looks like a genius at economic planning when compared to Granger, which he was not.  And then, if we observe how the procurement system is being managed, it resembles a cake shop operation, with contractors selected on the basis of “enie meenie minie moe…
“Can you imagine that a major bridge consultant was selected by a process that can be classified as one of the (fishiest) deals in the history of Guyana, using methods that are the furthest from international best practice?  It is just appalling to observe how inept this Granger cabinet really is. Or (are these) deliberate acts of corruption?”
The analyst pointed out that the world has not been doing too badly economically over the last year, and “even the Minister of Finance, Mr. Jordan, quite unashamedly was willing to concede that the world will grow by 3.5% in 2017 when he is piloting an economy that has grown at 2.2% in the first half of the year (see the 2017 Mid-Year Report).”
Guyana, Singh said, is one of a minority of countries that have moved from an average growth rate of over 5% during the previous administration to one that is even struggling to meet 3% in 2017. He added, “Clearly, under President David Granger, the Guyanese economy has gone in the wrong direction, and that is what is worrying; because, if you reflect on the policy measures over the last few years, they lack depth and intellectual breadth, and (are) populated by vindictive pettiness that clearly does not belong in a 5-year national development plan.”