Most important drivers
Guyanese households spend the most money in the economy with the result that their spending contributes the most to the gross domestic output (GDP) each year. Spending by Guyanese households accounts for in excess of 60 percent of the output generated by the local economy. At that level of spending, they are the most important drivers of the economy. This occurrence is not unusual since most economies around the world depend heavily on the spending by households at least to drive economic growth if not to drive economic development. What they do with their money matters. Spending on domestic production is only part of the story. Guyanese households spend plenty money on consumer items that are not produced in the country. In the absence of data on inventory, one has to assume that the consumer goods that are imported each year constitute a reasonable approximation of the money spent annually on those items by households. The amount spent on imports might itself be an interesting story as the article suggests later on. That observation aside, this article seeks to present what could be termed the profile of the Guyanese household through the sources of revenue and their spending preference. In order to achieve this objective, the article will rely on a few tables which cover three principal sources of income, namely earned income, gifts and borrowed money. It hopes to reveal also an apparent willingness on the part of households to undermine their own welfare by “cutting off their nose to spite their face”. The article will be presented in two parts.
