The PPP Government has positioned Guyana for economic transformation

Did you know that Guyana’s international debt stands at only 16 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? Did you know that Guyana’s debt servicing stands at only six per cent its revenue earnings? Both of these debt-related indicators are among the lowest and best in the world. Most Caricom countries have debt-to-GDP ratio of greater than 75 per cent. Overall, Caricom’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 74 per cent, with Barbados 156 per cent, Antigua and Barbuda 101 per cent, Belize 123 per cent, Dominica 109 per cent, Jamaica 107 per cent and Suriname 148 per cent. The US debt ratio is more than 100 per cent. Guyana, at just 16 per cent, is among only a handful of countries with a debt-to-GDP ratio below 20 per cent. Certainly, in Caricom and in Latin America, Guyana has the best debt-to-GDP ratio. In terms of debt payment (servicing), Guyana spends only six per cent of its current revenues. This, too, is the best in Caricom and Latin America and among the very best in the world.
Last week, this column took to task those naysayers who wildly proclaimed that Guyana is a failed state. This is not just patently untrue; it is a total deliberate fabrication. The fabrication that Guyana is either a failed state or on the pathway to a failed state is only one of the many misrepresentations and misinformation in a campaign of lies pushed by the Opposition People’s National Congress/A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (PNC/APNU/AFC) and some commentators masquerading as the people’s representatives. Even as they push ridiculous claims of Guyana being a failed state, they also push the claim that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is on a reckless borrowing spree. The facts say differently, but the naysayers continue to push their “jumbie” stories. In fact, Guyana is on an economic and social transformation path unequalled at the moment by any other country and its borrowing is way below its economic growth.
One of the “jumbie” stories spread by the naysayers is that the Irfaan Ali-led PPP Government is on a borrowing spree and that Guyana is living above its means. These naysayers believe that the loans taken to construct Amaila Hydroelectricity plant, the Demerara Harbour Bridge, the Linden-to-Mabura Road, hospitals and schools are mortgaging Guyana’s future. The naysayers know the truth. They simply put out these outlandish claims in the hope that they can mislead Guyanese citizens. The fact that these wild assertions have not gained traction, however, proves our point – that is that Guyanese citizens are one step ahead of the naysayers.
Yes, President Irfaan Ali, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP Government have accelerated the modernisation and expansion of Guyana’s economic and social infrastructure and, as part of this acceleration, the Government has borrowed money from various multinational development banks. But the Irfaan Ali-led Government is following in the footsteps of the Bharrat Jagdeo-led PPP Government in ensuring that borrowing remains at an affordable and manageable level while not waiting to develop the country’s economic and social infrastructure. While the naysayers find borrowing that is below 20 per cent of Guyana’s GDP reckless, these same naysayers ignore that there was a time, under the PNC, when Guyana’s debt-to-GDP ratio was 953 per cent, among the worst in the world. These same naysayers who find that debt servicing at six per cent is reckless ignore that there was a time when debt servicing was an impossible 114 per cent of Guyana’s income. None of them ever said then that the Government was reckless, but they now find borrowing which ranks as the most responsible in the world reckless.
Last week, President Irfaan Ali highlighted the Government’s trajectory of making the East Coast an industrial corridor. At the same time, West Bank Demerara is emerging as a shore-based industrial site, especially catering for the oil and gas industry. The same thing is happening on East Bank Demerara. The move to shift the sugar packaging plant to Albion is adding an industrial base on the Corentyne. With a deep-water harbour and rice packaging already planned for Berbice and the possibility of an oil refinery on the Berbice River, industrialisation and manufacturing jobs are being spread across the country.
In spite of the positive news, some of these naysayers keep making up disaster stories. The headline in one newspaper as the week began is that it could take more than 10 years to clean up an oil spill. That might be true. But the fact is that all countries with oil extraction take this risk. The question is, does Guyana want to leave the oil in the ground, because there is a risk of an oil spill? America did not leave the oil in the ground or deep under the sea bed, although there was a risk of an oil spill. Russia did not leave the oil in the ground. Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Brazil, Venezuela and the Middle East countries did not leave oil in the ground although the risk of an oil spill existed. But our naysayers talk about the possibility of an oil spill in a way to mislead our people into thinking it is a bad idea to extract the oil. The anti-oil naysayers are trying their best, using all kinds of ingenious excuses to get the Guyanese people to reject the Government’s commitment to extract our oil so that finally the Guyanese people can live in prosperity. It is especially irritating to see the desperate means being used to every day beat the drums of gloom and doom.