In life, everyone has their own unique thinking and disposition as it pertains to their perception of what they expect from their Government and holistically, from their economy. Hardly would you find everyone agreeing on a particular perspective, whether it is political or socio-economic. This however, was not the case when it came time to review the performance and progress of the Government after one year in office.
At present, while many could point to a positive situation, they have condemned the Government for its poor management of the country’s economic affairs.
No amount of statistical spin can justify the actual hand being played out on the ground. The poor and middle-class families and workers were haemorrhaging financially, eating away at the little that they were able to accumulate under the growth of the previous Administration. People stopped spending altogether, only allocations were made for the basic provisions such as food, indeed, in some cases, that is all that could be allocated for.
After one year, everything came to a screeching halt. Why is that? We don’t believe that it was the Government’s intention to have the economy reach to this point. But the Government has played a significant role in maintaining this drought by not advancing any meaningful stimulus packages that would jolt the economy and proliferate internal consumption, thereby increasing spending.
Further exacerbating Government’s predicament is its perceptible short-term disposition as it pertains to investment and economic growth. Within its one year in office, instead of investing in projects that would elevate the productive or manufacturing sectors, the Government has plugged monies into projects such as the creation of the D’Urban Park Stadium, an entity that beyond providing jobs during its construction, will not provide any returns on the investments made, only incurring further expenditure for its upkeep and maintenance. The monies for its upkeep would invariably come from the pockets of tax payers.
Had the Government invested the millions spent on the Park project to instead bailout and diversify the ailing sugar industry, there would have been 2000 workers still receiving a paycheque, which would have through local domestic consumption, aided in providing the impetus needed to propel the stagnant economy.
The Government’s apparent downsizing of the industry by acquiescing to the closure of two of its prominent estates is also seen as a retrograde move, especially when there is scope to diversify the surplus tonnes of sugar that the international market no longer wants into an alternative, eco-friendly form of fuel, which is ethanol.
What is paradoxically significant at this juncture is to note the pronouncements made by President Granger who in calling for more Caribbean countries to invest in Guyana via agricultural production said in his weekly televised “Public Interest” programme that “the Trinidadians are welcome to come. They had an interest in Canje, and the intermediate savannahs. It depends on the crop they want to produce. If they want to produce sugar cane to produce ethanol, I would welcome, yes.”
So on one side the government is downsizing on the domestic production of sugar, knowing very well that it could be used in the production of ethanol and on the other side they are advocating for the increased production of sugar from another country, utilising our lands, to produce ethanol.
There seems to be no clear cut vision on the part of the Government as to where its wants to be in the long run, especially where the developmental economics of the country is involved. These same inconsistencies are manifesting itself across Guyana and making businesses and persons who have money to invest in the economy reluctant to want to do so, thereby contributing to its stagnation further.
In the final analysis, the Government needs to understand what matters most to the people of this country and start putting in place proper long-term mechanisms to facilitate the proliferation of the manufacturing sectors, the creation of jobs and worthwhile investments such as cheap energy. This would encourage multinational corporations to want to invest here, thereby further stimulating the growth of the economy and in the long run, uplifting the standard of living of the most vulnerable in our society.
