PSC does not represent entire business community Harmon

No confidence

Minister of State Joseph Harmon on Friday took a jab at the Private Sector Commission (PSC), noting that while the entity may have concerns about Guyana’s state of affairs, it really does not represent the interest of all persons

doing business within the country.

Harmon’s comment came as he responded to questions posed to him at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing about the concerns raised recently by the PSC, which expressed that it had lost confidence in Government.

The PSC on Thursday said the continued growth and improvement in Guyana cannot continue if investors’ confidence continues to be eroded, noting that the trajectory in which the country is heading at the moment does not inspire such confidence.

But Harmon in response on Friday said it was the people of Guyana who voted in Government and at the appropriate time when there is to be a referendum on performance, the people will again make their statement. He said he wished not to respond expansively on the concerns raised by the commission, since it does not represent all and sundry in the private sector.

“I will not comment more on the private sector as such because it is a name, but does not represent all of the persons who are doing business in the private sector so sometimes, when you hear these statements you have to be able to disaggregate. I do not believe that it is a referendum on our performance”, Harmon

told journalists.

The Commission’s statement was reporting on a meeting that was held on Monday where participants also noted the decline of the economy. Among the concerns were the crippling new taxes for the mining sector and the institution of Value Added Tax (VAT) on necessities. The members of the business community present expressed a lack of confidence in the manner the Government is managing the economy.

The body called for the Government to “create an enabling environment and to increase its engagements with the business community.” This, it noted, was to facilitate the creation of employment opportunities, ensure wage growth and “measures to increase the wealth of all Guyanese”.

Govt’s position

Meanwhile, Government in a statement on Friday also lashed out at the PSC for what it was a “mischievous, politically motivated statement”

Government said the PSC’s statement was obviously timed to coincide with the hosting of the 28th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of the Heads of Government of Caricom and is a thinly veiled attempt to embarrass and discredit the coalition Government.