Dear Editor,
The time has come to sell the rights to naming of public assets to monetize these assets to fund sports and cultural activities for youths
Companies and individuals should be able to pay millions of dollars for the naming rights of the Botanic Gardens or the Harbour Bridge or the National Stadium; even the right to naming Main Street.
Monies from selling the naming rights to public assets should be directed to the development of sports and culture programmes geared to enhancing the character of our youths. Moreover, this is a truly “Public/Private” partnership with a win/win outcome for both parties. Estimates of the selling of naming rights are in the tens of millions of Guyana dollars. My personal desire is to see that inter-secondary school sports and debates programmes are adequately funded.
Before those who are myopic jump to conclusion, I suggest a simple economic theory called the Income Velocity of Money.
The Income Velocity of Money is the frequency at which the average unit of currency is used to purchase newly domestically produced goods and services within a given time period. In other words, it is the number of times one dollar is spent to buy goods and services per unit of time.
Example for the layman – assume a very small economy that has a money supply of $100 and only two people. Bob sells pencils and Jane sells paper. Bob starts with the $100 and buys $100 worth of paper from Jane. Jane turns around and buys $100 worth of pencils from Bob. Bob and Jane’s economy now has a “gross domestic product” of $200 even though the money supply is only $100. If Bob and Jane do the same two transactions every month, their “GDP” will be $2,400 per year, though the money supply is only $100.
Money/liquidity is the grease to a well functioning economic system. As such, if there is not adequate liquidity available the economic pie would shrink and the largest share will go to a few people. Besides the obvious disparities in living standards created among the population due to a lack of wealth creation, the criminal enterprise will certainly grow as a result of the creation of a “grey market/economy.” So as matter of fostering social entrepreneurship between the private and public sectors, I suggest this one proven alternative to inject liquidity in a small sector of the economy without the initial huge upfront investments.
My favourite growing up as child was my Saturday morning visits to the National Library and museum. With the absence or inability of the local NGOs to fundraise adequate and meaningful funding for these cherished institutions, our youths are missing out on the true potential of the aforementioned institutes of education with regard to rich Guyanese history and civic discourse.
I acknowledge that companies in Guyana do their part in funding sports and cultural events. But, funding is not enough. We need real and sustainable funding for sports and cultural programmes. During January 2015, the New York State Assembly introduced a bill (No A02032) to allow municipalities to lease naming rights of government owned property. Separately, Citi bank paid US$400 million for the naming rights for the Mets Stadium, a New York City baseball team. Funding that is essential to fund the tourist attractions i.e. great museums and performing arts centres. Dollars from tourism is then recycled in the local economy creating jobs and more spending – the Income Velocity of Money.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Bernard
