Growth and the Private Sector

This week, the Guyana Private Sector Commission (PSC) officially presented a copy of its “Action Plan for the Sustainable Development of Guyana” report to Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo at his Church Street office in Georgetown. The PSC had already shared its recommendations and report with the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government.
The compilation and presentation of the report by the PSC, after several rounds of discussions with its members and civil society, is both timely and demonstrates its seriousness and commitment towards working with all stakeholders to advance the country’s overall development and growth.
After all, the Private Sector in any country is seen as the engine of growth and like every other stakeholder is no doubt affected by the poor economic performance and slow rate at which the economy is progressing.
It knows fully well that its performance is intricately linked to and affected by the economic stewardship of the Government of the day and the quality of the policies which that Government pursues. The PSC, by its actions, also appears to understand that it must take a hands-on approach to cautioning the Government against adopting policies which are short-sighted and could adversely affect the disposable income of the populace which represents the lifeline of Private Sector growth, profitability, and sustenance.
It is, therefore, expected that President David Granger and his Cabinet will set aside a special part of their agenda to seriously discuss the report and recommendations made by the PSC if they are serious about averting the resurgence of an economic crisis in the country.
Already, the statistics and surveys being undertaken by independent analysts, financial institutions, and other advocacy groups are painting a worrying picture about Guyana’s macroeconomic performance and fiscal management fundamentals. The Government itself via Finance Minister Winston Jordan accepted last week that the economy was not performing as it had expected or hoped, even after revising the actual growth figures three times downwards.
This alone is reason for the Government to accept with open arms, all of the external assistance it can get from reputable entities within Guyana like the various chambers of commerce bodies which could also be called upon to make proposals on projects and policies that could be pursued to boosting the economic performance of regional economies, counties, and towns.
This means that the Government has to be willing to listen more and loosen its grip on several areas of fiscal management. One such area is taxation as the current policies being pursued and implemented by the Government have been described by some as anti-business, anti-poor and anti-development despite the fact that Government revenues from this source have doubled if not tripled since 2015.
The parliamentary and political Opposition too must continue to lobby and agitate the Government in a less confrontational manner to change some of the economic policies it is keen on re-implementing. In order for this to be done, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has to invite the Government to dialogue even if the Government does not see it fit to initiate such discourse. The success of talks of this nature will rely heavily on the level of maturity of the leaders of both sides and their commitment to advancing positive economic change outside of their partisan interests and political nuances.
And the Private Sector as well as civil society could be seen as the referees in the talks given that they stand to lose the most if there is no change in the economic status quo of the country.