In Friday, February 24, 2017, Naitram, a well-known community organiser on the Essequibo Coast and Chairman of the Essequibo Paddy Farmers Association, reminded Agriculture Minister Noel Holder of the unkept promise made by the Granger Administration to establish a State Development Bank (SDB). To nail the exact promise made in 2015, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) manifesto clearly stated on page 26 that once it wins government, it plans to:
1. “Restore agriculture to its former vibrant self” – NOT DONE.
2. “Re-establishing an Agricultural and Industrial Development Bank to meet the financing needs of the agricultural sector” – AGAIN NOT DONE.
In response, the Minister was quoted in the press as saying, “the Government is looking into the matter and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is doing a survey to see if such a bank is feasible”. Really? Another review?
I am truly appalled at this penchant by the Granger Government to more studies. This situation at hand demands action, but the Granger team seems to have a dogmatic fixation with bureaucratic bologna. In 2011, the AFC did extensive work on this matter and much of that work is still available. Plus, the People’s National Congress (PNC) had a long history with GAIBANK. Why are these thought sets not being leveraged for economic development? Why are we paying Clive Thomas as a Presidential Advisor, if not to conceptualise and conceive big ideas?
Couldn’t the CDB study run parallel to the incubation of this bank? Why this cupidity with the diktats of the big foreign banks? Why not dig deep within the core competence of your own people to connect their energies with a vision of delivering on indigenous outcomes for starters? The CDB can always come in at their pace to join the homegrown efforts.
This is what separates Guyana from progressive countries in the “Political South” like Rwanda that grew at some 6.5 per cent in 2016. Paul Kagame (a former military commander), their leader, has an implementable vision (vision 2020), which he is actively progressing. Every month he delivers something new for his people that has a direct impact on new economic activity and new jobs. This is not rocket science.
The world is entering the new post-2016 era of the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals include poverty eradication, education for all, inclusive economic growth, full employment, reduced inequality, and so on. Institutions like a State Development Bank are critical to making these socioeconomic goals achievable. The role of an SDB in promoting long-term development is even more vital today to help the APNU/AFC/WPA Government out of its own self-created economic austerity.
No one can dispute that GAIBANK played a fundamental role in part-financing projects that were difficult to fund. But those projects created new jobs and added value to the economy every single day. The adverse lessons can be learned so that they are not repeated today. But this is a big idea and if we observe the track record of the Granger Administration over the last 22 months, they buckle under the weight of executing big ideas. They can talk a good talk but when it comes to programme managing the big ideas, these chaps are still “cutting teeth” and creeping.
In January 2017, the stock of idle financial assets across the banking system was some G$333 billion, double what it was a decade ago (see chart below). Right now these funds are all under-performing. Even if half of these funds are put to work to leverage new projects with new foreign partners with their foreign capital, it can trigger a new stream of capital inflows, which can be an economic bonanza for Guyana. It is all about how the deal is financially structured and the role the SDB will play in mitigating the risks. In fact, collaboration with established financial institutions to co-finance, harder to finance project while at the same time diversifying the risk will create important synergies. The end game is to allow for greater collaboration on these new syndicated financial instruments.
When will the Granger Administration snap out of this policy malaise and embrace all of our people in a plan to take the nation out of this anti-developmental cul-de-sac in which it finds itself today?
