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Macroeconomic fundamentals, agriculture and climate change initiatives

Apr 22, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
After all the excitement of the Summit of the Americas and the overkill in coverage in some newspapers within the region, Heads of State returned to do battle with the problems on their domestic scene. U.S. President Barack Obama returned to his homeland to face the immediate problems of financial meltdown and the release of controversial CIA memos.
President Bharrat Jagdeo returned home, while not having to address any credit crunch or issues of a CIA nature, resolved to continue his Government’s work to consolidate democracy, sustain macroeconomic fundamentals and advance his Initiatives on Agriculture and Climate Change, among other things.
The Summit gave President Jagdeo, the leading advocate on agriculture and climate change within CARICOM, opportunities to further advance these matters in bilaterals; where significant discussions of a micro nature generally take place.
This President did not return to face any financial meltdown because, among other things, sound macroeconomic fundamentals are in place. In response to shocks – the debt burden; periodic global increases in food and fuel prices; erosion of the European Union’s preference market for sugar; slowdown in the global economy; and globalization – the Government continues to expand the economy to secure medium-term growth through diversification and international competitiveness combined with a ‘technology’ vision, Government’s twin strategies of development.
National competitiveness will increase productivity; and higher productivity will boost investment returns, leading to greater growth rates for the economy. It is important to note that a key factor in all of this is macroeconomic stability that underlies competitiveness.
Guyana faced a major economic shock in 2008, namely, the rising global food and fuel prices. This Government made effective responses to cushion the effects of the rising cost of living. Some cushioning included an increased zero-rated VAT list; no excise tax on diesel, kerosene, and cooking gas; lifting of the Common External Tariff (CET), the campaign to grow more food, and indeed, the Jagdeo Initiative on Agriculture (JIA).
Decisive fundamentals of the JIA are: seeing agriculture as a business; considering agriculture as holistic, across the whole agri-product chain and with natural links to other productive sectors; acknowledging the growing significance of value-added food products and non-food products; highlighting national initiatives in the company of sub-regional and regional actions for incorporation when they add value to national initiatives.
President Jagdeo also is the leading exponent of the climate change initiative, fast becoming a major governmental activity. On September 8-12, 2008, ‘The Paramaribo Dialogue’ was held in Suriname with a team of high level Government officials where President Jagdeo proposed that the idea to establish a framework for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) will not help Guyana and countries like itself; and that the emphasis should be focused on Avoided Deforestation instead.
Prem Misir

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