Lack of transparency, infrastructure deterring investors from Guyana – US official

The new Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the United States Embassy to Guyana, Mark Cullinane, on Monday said that Guyana’s high energy costs, coupled with lack of transparency and security concerns, are deterring investors from coming to Guyana. Cullinane made the statements during a welcoming reception hosted by the American Chambers of Commerce (AmCham) at the Marriott Hotel as he commenced his new position in Guyana.

According to Cullinane, “Guyana currently stands at 134 out of 190 countries in the 2018 World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report. Highlighting areas of need, the report listed taxation, energy, infrastructure, citizen security (and) lack of transparency. Guyana’s complex tax infrastructure, duties on imports, and expensive energy costs do, in fact, deter business investment”.
In this regard, he explained the important role of the private sector in addressing these worrying trends.
“The good news is that here in this room, these issues have solutions. This is where organisations like AmCham Guyana can truly help. They can and do help. Your members are already experienced to navigating the sometimes difficult process of doing business here and can provide guidance to existing, new and future members of AmCham Guyana,” the new DCM said.

The new Deputy Chief of Mission will be replacing Terry Steers-Gonzalez.
He served as Deputy Director of the Office of Canadian Affairs at the US Department of State. Prior, he was the Economic Counsellor at the US Embassy in Lima, Peru, and Counsellor for Environment, Science, Heath, and Technology at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Cullinane also previously served as Political Advisor to Swedish and Finnish troops affiliated with the International Security Assistance Force in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan.
Only last month, US Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch pleaded with the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to play its role in the fight against corruption.
The Ambassador pointed out that the World Bank’s 2018 report on ease of doing business reflected a drop in ranking from number 126 in 2017 to number 134 in 2018, out of 190 countries.  Places like Iran, the West Bank, and Gaza ranked better than Guyana.
She explained that this was linked to the fact that Guyana has high rates of taxation, energy, corruption and lack of transparency, coupled with a number of others.
“In addition, the duties imposed on many imported items can be substantial, driving costs up beyond competitiveness.  I don’t need to tell you that the cost of electricity is one of the highest in the region, at more than 35 cents per kilowatt hour.  The power grid system is antiquated, resulting in regular power outage, forcing companies… to install their own power generation systems to cope with the blackouts,” the Ambassador said.
On this note, the US Ambassador explained that the PSC can play a role in affecting a change by offering guidance to the Government in shaping legislation. Further, it can review policies by the administration and recommend changes.
In the past, the coalition Government had been blasted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for several acts of corruption.
In fact, the US State Department had highlighted Guyana as corrupt, owing to a number of irregularities within various Government ministries.
According to the State Department in its assessment of the situation, allegations of corruption continue to trouble Guyana. It cited the Transparency International (TI) 2017 Corruption Perception Index, which ranked Guyana at 91 out of 180 countries. To make matters worse, Guyana has since dropped to 93rd position in TI’s latest report.
The index placed Guyana’s corruption perception score at 37 to tie with Gambia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Mongolia and Panama.
Meanwhile, AmCham on Monday evening also bid farewell to the Managing Director of Republic Bank Limited, Richard Sammy, who will be taking up a new post in the twin island of Trinidad and Tobago.