– Finance Minister

Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh says that the government would welcome a debate in Parliament on the issue of the proposed sale of the minority shareholding in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited.

Singh made this comment last Wednesday when he was responding to reports in some sections of the press that the opposition PNCR intended to move to the Parliament to try to block the proposed sale, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said in a press release.

The minister indicated that the government’s willingness to debate the issue is so strong that if the Opposition did not raise the matter in Parliament, the government might itself consider initiating such a debate there, GINA stated.

Dr Singh also noted that government’s overriding concern continues to be the modernising and liberalising of the telecommunications sector as a means of ensuring more widespread and affordable access to reliable information and communications technology.

He stated that this is seen as a critical prerequisite for the achievement of growth in ICT as a productive sector and provider of jobs in its own right. Moreover, Singh said, it is also a sector that affects the competitiveness of all other economic activity in the country and that influences the effectiveness with which government services can be delivered throughout the country, the release concluded.