Just days after the release of its sectorial survey identifying key elements of the impact of COVID 19 on the country’s manufacturing and services sectors, the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA) has tagged the ongoing post March 2 general elections impasse and what it says is “the absence of a functional government” as impediment to the smooth operation of the business sector to operate. In calling for an end to the four-month-old imbroglio the GMSA asserts that “a continuation of this current situation will have disastrous consequences on the business community and the economy.”
The Association’s June needs assessment meanwhile, asserts that the ongoing coronavirus has left the business sector with a slew of challenges that will require robust responses from both the state and the banks if businesses are to survive the still rampaging pandemic.
The worst-affected among the stricken businesses, according to the June 5th survey were primarily small agro processing operators employing a range of one to ten persons and many of which have now stopped operating altogether. The findings of the survey suggest that job losses in the sector are likely to be high, asserting that about 50% the enterprises surveyed have either already dismissed some members of their staff or plan to do so in the foreseeable future.
