JSE Conference: Guyana offers stable, mature business environment – Finance Minister

…tells potential investors of state institutions strengthened to support rapidly growing economy

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh has assured potential investors that Guyana is a stable and mature environment for business, and that the Government is working to have the various state and regulatory institutions keep up with the pace of development in the country.
He made this remark at the second annual Regional Investments and Capital Markets Conference held in Georgetown. The two-day event, hosted by the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and held under the theme “Financing for Success: Where Passion, Prosperity and People Align”, brought together Government and business leaders, technocrats, professionals and investors.
Speaking at Day Two of the Conference, Dr Singh highlighted the heavy lifting done by past People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administrations, even before oil was found offshore Guyana, to set the stage for an environment that is competitive and attractive for doing business, and an economy that is globally competitive and diversified, and therefore resilient.

“Decades of work have gone into getting Guyana to where we are. Of course, the discovery of oil has helped… but what it has helped us to do is to do more, to do it better, and to do it more quickly…Long before oil was discovered, this Government, in our previous terms of office, was already firmly and unswervingly focused on the task of building out a competitive, diversified, and therefore resilient economy in the pre-oil era,” he stated.

Avoid mistakes
The Finance Minister was at the time commenting on remarks made by Chairman of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, Steven Whittingham, who at the opening of the conference on Tuesday called on Guyana to learn from that country’s mistakes and avoid falling into the same economic trap that once nearly sank Jamaica.
The Guyana Government has been adamant in using the money earned from the burgeoning oil and gas industry to expand, strengthen and diversify the country’s traditional economic sectors, while at the same time enhance livelihoods through infrastructure development and improved healthcare, education, and welfare services.
Meanwhile, Minister Singh posited that the heavy lifting that was done over decades has now set up Guyana as possibly one of the most attractive places in the world to do business.
From 2021 to 2023, Guyana has grown at an average of almost 40 per cent per annum in real terms, and is projected to grow at an average of about 29 per cent in this decade. Over the past three years, the country’s non-oil economy has been growing at about 11 per cent per annum, and is projected over the medium term to continue growing at 7 or 8 per cent in real economic terms.
In light of these projections, the Finance Minister assured potential investors in the audience that the country has a lot of experience in building out institutions that are necessary for good governance as well as sound and responsible economic management.
“You can be assured, and you need not be worried that this is a basket case that has just found some resources that needs to be cautioned to act responsibly. You will be nervous about that. I assure you…I want you to understand that this is a mature, stable, young – we’re still a very young country, but notwithstanding that we’re a young country and a young democracy, this is a stable, mature, sensible, and level-headed environment to do business… We see many companies, many global companies and many regional companies, seizing this opportunity to enter strategic partnerships with Guyanese companies, and doing so incredibly successfully,” Dr Singh noted.

Institutional strengthening
But even as investors are urged to explore business opportunities in Guyana, Dr Singh assured of efforts by Government for institutional strengthening with the aim of enhancing the ease of doing business here.
“The reality is that things are happening so rapidly that our institutions, some of them are also, you know, struggling to adapt. [But] we’re committed to fixing those as well, including all of the regulatory agencies that need rapid modernization, the deployment of technology, the introduction of single window solutions to trade transactions, single window solutions to construction permits, and so on.
“There’s a whole agenda for digitization in Government that we’re deploying, that we’re rolling out right now, that will see us leapfrog a lot of the sort of evolutionary changes that we would’ve ordinarily gone through. But I want you to know and be assured that this is a mature, stable, level-headed and sensible environment that you’re investing in,” he stressed.
The Finance Minister went on to highlighted the vast investment opportunities available for Guyanese and Jamaican businesses. According to Dr Singh, while there already are businesses from Jamaica operating in Guyana and collaborating with Guyanese companies, and vice versa, there is scope for much more to be done. This, he added, has been bolstered with Guyana’s Local Content Act that allows foreign companies to partner with Guyanese-owned businesses in order to operate in the local oil and gas sector.
“We have a moment now where the opportunities for doing business in Guyana and with Guyanese companies are astronomically more than ever before. I say to people that there isn’t a single category of goods or services for which demand does not outstrip supply in Guyana right now. I say to people that it doesn’t matter whether you’re speaking of hotel rooms, hospital beds, or hamburgers or hot dogs; it doesn’t matter which category of goods and services you’re speaking of, there’s an opportunity for investment in Guyana,” the minister has asserted.
He urged potential investors to engage with the local business community to get a better understanding of the investment opportunities available in Guyana.
Only last month, Jamaican Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Aubyn Hill, encouraged companies there to take advantage of the investment opportunities in Georgetown.
Minister Hill had touted transport and logistics, increased trade especially of Guyana’s timber, and exchange of skilled personnel as some of the areas with potential for increased collaboration. (G8)