Guyana and the wider world
Assessing the G20 Summit responses: Weak diagnosis equals weak solutiaons Overriding considerations Except by pure chance, ultimately the effectiveness of the actions proposed by the G20 Summit held on November 15, 2008 would depend on the accuracy of its diagnosis of the present financial crisis and credit crunch that are engulfing the global community. In [...]
Guyana and the wider world
Global response to the global crisis Within hours of the US authorities realizing that their private housing bubble had burst and how severe the financial crisis and credit crunch had become, reverberations began to be felt all around the world. Stock exchange and exchange rate volatility erupted in several other global markets. This caused near [...]
Guyana and the Wider World
An abrupt about face: From the Troubled Assets Relief Program to partial nationalization From the inception the US Treasury authorities have made it clear that the primary objective of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) is to stabilize the US financial system and free the flow of finance to business. As they see it the [...]
Guyana and the wider world
At the heart of the crisis response: the US Troubled Assets Relief Program The United States is clearly at the epicentre of the global financial crisis and credit crunch. The scale of the havoc and damage already wreaked on the financial sector of the United States is one of the two clearest indicators of the [...]
Guyana and the Wider World
At the epicentre of the crisis − a bursting bubble In last week’s column I put forward the thesis that, the enormity of the global financial crisis and its associated credit cr-unch could be gauged from two indicators. Firstly from the carnage they have already wreaked on the United States’ financial system and secondly, the [...]
Guyana and the wider world
How is a credit crunch different from a financial crisis? The enormity of the challenges posed by the present financial crisis and credit crunch is starkly revealed in its two most basic aspects, firstly, the enormous toll on the United States’ financial system and secondly, the unprecedented scope of the governmental responses, which have been [...]
Guyana and the wider world
The financial crisis and credit crunch As promised last week, in this week’s Sunday Stabroek column I shall start a fairly extended discussion of the staggering financial crisis and worsening credit crunch facing the global economy, The epicentre of these is the United States. Historically, the economic record of market capitalism shows clearly that, from [...]
Guyana and the wider world
EPA, sign or else: Exploding the myth of a partnership of equals Predictably, the opening act of the increasingly sordid saga of the African Caribbean Pacific group (ACP) – European Commission (EC) – EPAs has come to a tawdry conclusion with two recent developments in relation to the Cariforum-EC, EPA. One of these is legal [...]
Guyana and the wider world
More on the Guyana consultation on the EPA While it would be fair to say that the Guyana government held a fairly successful National Consultation on the CARIFORUM-EC, EPA, its aftermath has been much more uncertain. The Agreement has turned out to be a very difficult subject for public debate because of its length and [...]
Guyana and the wider world
EPA: Moral Hazard and the Betrayal of the Public’s Interest Perspective Put in a proper analytical frame two crucial considerations have emerged out of my column last Sunday, which continued the analysis of the Guyana Consultation on the CARIFORUM/EC, EPA and its aftermath. First, I have argued the proposition that the sheer length, technicality and [...]
Guyana and the wider world
The EPA: Technicality subverts democratic discourses I have already pointed out that the text of the Cariforum-EC; Partnership Agree-ment (EPA) is very long. The main text, which has to be read in conjunction with several annexes, protocols, schedules and other listings in order to be understood is about 150 pages. The accompanying material, however, takes [...]
Guyana and the wider world
Guyana: Trade-in-goods only In last week’s column I had indicated that I would for the next couple of weeks be evaluating the Guyana Consultation on the Cariforum-EC, EPA held on September 5 and its aftermath. I wish however, to re-state that I do not intend to repeat matters already covered in my earlier columns on [...]
Guyana and the wider world
The Guyana National Consultation on the Cariforum-EC, Economic Partnership Agreement As a participant and presenter I might have been biased, but I believe that by any reasonable standard the Guyana National Consultation on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) held on September 5 at the National Convention Centre was a success. It would be fair [...]
Guyana and the wider world
Near-term prospects for the Guyana economy: The internal environment US financial intervention The recent unprecedented and spectacular intervention of the US Federal Government into that country’s financial markets is testimony to how serious the risk of financial meltdown is in the USA, and around the world. As pointed out a couple of weeks ago in [...]
Guyana and the wider world
Near-term prospects for the Guyana economy: A tale of ‘falling prices’ (Continued from last week) Recap Several persons have expressed consternation to me over the Bureau of Statistic’s data indicating an overall increase in the price level of consumer items for the second quarter of this year of only one per cent (1%). Some are [...]