Guyana commits to socially just market economy

…at Second WTO Trade Policy Review

Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir on Wednes-day underscored Guyana’s commitment to building what he called a “socially just market economy” as a player in regional and international trade while  deepening and strengthening a raft of economic reforms.

Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir
Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir

The minister was making an opening statement at the July 8-10 Guyana Second Trade Policy Review of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland while representing Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Carolyn Rodrigues.

Highlighting the Guyana government’s commitment to economic reform Nadir pointed to a number of these reforms which “have been completed successfully.”

Among such reforms, the minister pointed out that the financial sector is now totally in private hands; the tax net has been widened with the successful introduction in 2007 of the Value Added Tax (VAT); an Investment Act and a Small Business Act have been  passed; and  Guyana has borrowed heavily to finance the current  Judicial Reform project; while a national competitiveness project is underway.

Moreover, Nadir stated, a project through the United States Millennium Challenge Account has as one of its goals the reduction of processing time for imports and exports; a Competition Act and Commission have been put in place; and significant investments have gone into road transportation and the Takutu bridge now links Guyana with Brazil.

“Guyana is committed to building a socially just market economy that is a player in regional and international trade, by deepening and strengthening these reforms,” Nadir asserted.

Present during the minister’s opening statement were Ambassador Mario Matus, Chairperson of the General Council and the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB), Ambassador Norman Harris of Panama as a  Discussant, Richard Eglin and staff of the Trade Policy Review Division, other WTO personnel, and representatives of other international institutions.

National Competitiveness
Strategy

Nadir declared  that a  major plank of the government’s reform programme to improve the business environment of Guyana is the ‘National Competitiveness Strategy’, which was issued jointly by the Government of Guyana and the Private Sector Commission in 2006. “As a partnership between the public and private sectors, the aim of the strategy is to improve Guyana’s competitiveness in a wide range of areas where improvements will be made over the next few years,” Nadir said.

The National Competitiveness Strategy is financed by a US$27 million loan that the government has taken from the IDB,  and it covers a large number of sectors of the economy, the minister noted.

Nadir also pointed to government’s emphasis on human resource development in terms of making Guyana  competitive in the global economy.  However, he observed that Guyana like Jamaica is a country that loses one of the highest percentages of its skilled persons to the developed countries.

“While we appreciate the contributions that their remittances make to economic affairs, we also understand the heavy burden their training places on our scare resources.  Nevertheless, Guyana is committing to invest heavily in  education and workforce training,” Nadir stated.

He said further that in  the national budget, Guyana “spends close to 15% directly in formal education and additional amounts for vocational skills training.  In this regard, Guyana through the Board of Industrial Training is targeting 2000 to be given employable skills to improve productivity and production.”

And these programmes, he added, target youths and women.

Meanwhile, looking at certain challenges to growth and trade during the review period, Nadir cited threats to safety and security.

“The period from 2003 to 2008 was one of the worst periods of violent crime our country had ever seen.  This threatened the very foundations of our fledgling democracy,” the minister told the meeting.

He also noted the disastrous effects of climate change when  Guyana in 2005 experienced severe flooding that destroyed 60% of the GDP, but while not as bad, floods again came in 2006 and caused considerable damage to the country’s  productive sectors.

Nadir also observed that Guyana has had to face the vagaries of the international market system and during some years of the review period, fuel import costs were as much as 50% of the country’s  export revenues.

He also drew attention to the global spike in food prices in 2007/2008 which he said caused considerable disruptions.

Nadir said that “As we meet here today, Guyana braces itself for considerable decline in remittances as our Diaspora cope with meeting the challenges of the global economic crisis in the developed economies.”

Meanwhile, he restated Guyana’s commitment to its CARICOM partners “to bring effective representation as lead spokesperson in the WTO for the Region,” and also expressed appreciation to the donor community which has facilitated debt write-offs and continues to provide  desperately needed support.