Comprehensive strategy needed to boost economy – GCCI President

Newly elected President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Vishnu Doerga, believes that a comprehensive strategy is needed to further boost economic activities in Guyana.

Speaking with reporters recently, the GCCI President noted that for Guyana to become a global player, its needs to operate with efficiency, both in good economic times as well as bad ones.
Doerga explained that Guyana needs to formulate a strategic plan that will see it capitalising on the various economically viable industries. “There needs to be a more comprehensive plan,” he stated.
The GCCI President urges a renewed focus on diversification within the Guyana economy as well as emphasis on up and coming industries, such as the Information Technology (IT) sector.
“Call centres have sapped up some level of unemployment and many people are now able to find jobs in those industries – it might be stepping stone jobs but nevertheless employment and that’s going to feed in back into the economy,” he stressed.
Doerga further highlighted the agro-processing industry, pointing out that the country has fertile soil in abundance, something which many countries in the world do not even have access to.
He went on to say that Guyana needs to look at how it can add more value to all its raw materials so that the country can then start controlling the prices. The businessman noted that the country has to start branding itself in order for it to be recognised and sold on the international market.
“It’s not just another product, we have to seek out what is special about Guyana and how can we get paid for the Guyana brand,” he said.
According to the GCCI President, the current low global commodity price may increase in the future, bringing cash flow into the country. However, he noted that one way Guyana can generate its own cash flow is by finding appropriate and “right size” markets for its exports rather than competing with those giant producers.
“Us trying to go off to the extremely large markets, where there are large players who can easily compete with us on those markets, is always going to be a strategy that is doom to put us to compete on pricing,” he pointed out.
The businessman further explained that if Guyana is to look at markets that it can actually tailor its products to, then the country can actually get higher prices as it will be competing with producers on a level playing field. This way, he noted, the countrywill still have some amount of stability.
Doerga added too that the Private Sector needs to be a part of whatever strategy is undertaken to boost the country’s economy so that they can also take the necessary steps in order to generate the desired results.