PPP/C resuscitated APNU/AFC’s bankrupt forestry sector – Min Bharrat tells House

– says local demand on the increase amid rapid infrastructural development

Prudent management of the forestry sector has seen it turned around from the bankrupted state that was inherited when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) took office some three years ago.
Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat made this disclosure in the National Assembly on Tuesday, on day two of Budget Debates 2024, when he reminded that, in 2020, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) was bankrupt when the Government took over from the APNU-AFC coalition.
Fast forward to strategic interventions, Bharrat told the House, and the sector has seen a positive turnaround.
“In less than three years, we have turned the sector around,” the Minister told the House.
He also dismissed claims by Opposition Member of Parliament Deonarine Ramsaroop: that the APNU-AFC inherited a bankrupted sector in 2015, by adding that the country should not be misled.
Facts were provided to the National Assembly showing that the GFC had $100 million in its coffers in September 2015, and that sum was transferred to the Finance Ministry.
“He came here and said they took over a bankrupt Commission. We should not come to the National Assembly and mislead the House and the people of this country. Even for argument’s sake: you took up a bankrupt Commission – which is not true – what did you do? Because in 2020 it was still bankrupted. So, it means that you simply did nothing in five years!” Bharrat schooled.
Responding to the decline in timber exports, the Natural Resources Minister clarified that this is due to increasing local demand, which must be fulfilled. According to him, while exports have declined, production is on the increase.
“The local demand is growing so much that the Guyana Forestry Commission is supplying the local demand. Should we neglect the local demand and export because we want to come here and report that our export figures are glorious? Should we do that? By doing that, we are suffering our own people! Because when they go to a sawmill or lumberyard, it’s either not available, or the price is so high that they cannot pay for it!” he explained.
“It tells you something about what is happening in our country! It tells you about the infrastructure development that is taking place in our country! That is what it says,” he added.
Supported by continued investments in the housing sector, and more broadly construction, the forestry sector is projected to record growth of 3.9 per cent in 2024.
Bolstered by an expected ramping up of oil production offshore and persistent growth in key non-oil sectors, Guyana’s economy is slated to continue its growing trend for yet another consecutive year, with projections putting Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at a 34.3 per cent growth in 2024.
Explaining the rapid expansion of the economy, Bharrat told the Opposition, “The increased demand didn’t happen just like that. Do you think the increased demand happened by magic? How come it didn’t happen between 2015 and 2020? But it is happening now because of the prudent management of the economy and our ability to bring in investors in almost every single sector across the country. It is because of the confidence of people in the economy and the Government.”
The Natural Resources Minister indicated that Guyanese should be proud that, among forested countries, the country boasts one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world. In the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030, the commitment is 0.07 per cent deforestation.
“Today, our deforestation rate is 0.036 per cent, and we’re working to bring down that deforestation even further by adding value to products and not exporting raw wood or logs,” he disclosed.
In March 2023, the Guyana Government signed with the European Union (EU) a contract worth more than $1 billion, to increase forest preservation activities in the country as well as to foster sustainable development within local communities that are dependent on the forest for their livelihoods. This agreement fell under the Forest Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed between Guyana and the EU, back in November 2022 on the sidelines of COP27 in Egypt, for the provision of a €5 million grant to advance efforts towards sustainable forest management and preservation here.
A €10 million “Sustainable Forest Livelihoods for the communities of Guyana and Suriname” project was also launched in the two South American nations – in which has been injected in each country €5 million to strengthen capacity development and sustainable livelihood in and around forest-dependent communities over four years. (Rupa Seenaraine)