Dear Editor,
A year ago, I reinforced the fact that, “When you come from a small country like Guyana, you should always have an outward outlook.”
This was the modality adopted with great success by small nations like Rwanda, Singapore and Ireland. Right here in the Caribbean, Jamaica is doing fantastically on the export front. When you are a small country, 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 will be left behind.
Guyana does have unique niches – world class rum, world class jewellery manufacturing, world class rice that can be transformed into rice related products—and yes, we can create a world class forestry product if we try hard enough. These are just a few of the niches that I see. So why are we not exporting more of these niches?
For a small country like Guyana, exports must become second nature to our people. According to the Bureau of Statistics, Guyana, in 2018, exported US$1.372 billion compared to US$1.438 billion in 2017 and US$1.441 billion in 2016. In reality, that means a reduction in exports in 2018 by US$66 million or GY$13,860 million.
How did the Guyanese economy get trapped in this vicious cycle after a sustained period of growth in exports from 1991 to 2012?
Thus, this 4.1% growth rate pontificated on by the minister defies all economic logics. Did he pull it out from thin air? Where is the End of Year Economic Report to support these numbers? Is the Guyanese economy being planned for and managed in an environment of guess-estimates?
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
