Dear Editor,
When you come from a small country like Guyana, you should always have an outward outlook. You have to! This was the modality adopted with great success by Singapore and Ireland. Right here in the Caribbean, Jamaica is doing fantastically on the food export front. You know you are a small country and you are always aware of the world around you, and you must know that you have to be better than the rest of the world in a specific niche to get ahead, or you shall be left behind.
So for a small country like Guyana, exports must become second nature. According to the Bureau of Statistics, Guyana in 2017 exported US$1.438 billion (see table). In 2016 Guyana exported US$1.441 billion. In reality, that means a reduction in exports by US$3 million or $615 million.
How did the Guyanese economy get trapped in this vicious cycle after a sustained period of growth in exports from 1991 to 2012?
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
