Dear Editor,
Guyanese will be asked on November 28 to make a decision that will determine whether we move forward at an accelerated pace under another PPP/C administration or whether we run the risk of reversing the social and economic gains made by the current administration since its assumption to office on October 5, 1992.
There can be no doubt that the country has made substantial progress in every facet of national life. At the international level, the country has erased the stigma of a pariah state and is today a respected member of the global community. We are no longer deemed ‘uncreditworthy’ by the IMF and other global financial institutions.
This was due to reckless and unrestrained borrowing which resulted in one of the highest per capita debt burdens in the entire English-speaking Caribbean.
This acknowledgement was made by no less a person than former President and Leader of the PNC Mr Desmond Hoyte in a speech made on October 20, 1988:
“Our foreign exchange reserves became rapidly depleted as a result of unfavourable balance of trade and balance of payments. With the contractions of our export earnings we could not meet all of our debt obligations to our overseas creditors so debt began accumulate. We became uncreditworthy and many sources of external financing were closed to us.”
The PNC took this country to a state of bankruptcy where the administration was forced to borrow money in order to meet salary and other obligations.
At one stage the administration was printing money which was not supported by increased production and productivity as admitted by Mr Desmond Hoyte when he said in 1988:
“These deficits have been influenced by internal borrowing that was not supported by increased production and savings in the economy. In fact, we were merely printing more money which contributed to the high rate of inflation which we have been experiencing in recent years.”
Today, the rate of inflation has been largely contained unlike galloping inflation rates under the PNC administration which devoured any money increases and put the worker in a worse position than he was before the salary increases.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
