Chinese investments in Guyana decline – GO-Invest

The number of Chinese investors who wish to establish businesses in the Guyanese market has begun to decline, which could mean the influx of traders will soon stabilise.
This is according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest), Owen Verwey, who noted that the amount of investments reaching the agency from China is fewer than that which was recorded a few years ago.
“In terms of the Chinese Industries coming to Guyana, I think it’s more or less stabilised now. We don’t see as many as (we were) seeing before,” Verwey said.
This, he said, is completely normal since there are instances when an influx of investors would flood the market to establish trades, and these numbers would later stabilise.
“Presently, the situation is at the stabilisation level in Guyana, and the future will tell if these numbers would remain or decrease further.

“As things change, you see an influx, and then starts to stabilise and it either stays at that level or it declines. I think it’s coming more focused and more planned within the intentions and strategies and policies of [the] Government of Guyana,” said Verwey.
In November, China will be hosting its inaugural China International Import Expo, which is intended to merge exporters from around the world to determine what can be imported into the country. Presently, China is one of the largest manufacturing and exporting nations in the world, and hence the expo will provide a medium for the country to showcase its interests in the exports of other countries. For this, over 21 companies from Guyana will be participating.
“On the international forum, there is the inaugural China International Import Expo which will be held (from) November 5-10. We had the launching of that in Guyana, the information is well out there, and we have about 21 companies from Guyana who will be attending with us. The big advantage of this event is (this is) the first time China is opening its economy to imports, and it’s actually allowing you to showcase what you have to send to China.”
While the manufacturing industry is one of the emerging sectors in Guyana’s economy, Verwey explained, there are still some challenges, mainly in the cost of energy consumption as well as the consistency of the power supply. However, many of these projects are now in the initial stages, and produce results when they are completely established.
“The cost of power is the number one issue. In our agency, manufacturing is one of the primary sectors that we look at, so anything manufacturing-related we tend to give attention. There are some activities that are going on at the early stages right now. Overall, manufacturing did have its challenges over a number of years, both energy cost and energy reliability affecting it, and the overall cost of production and shipping,” Verwey explained.