Debt relief, gateway for Guyana’s development

May 21, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor:
I refer to Mr. Emile Mervin’s letter of May 19, 2009 in the Kaieteur News, with the caption ‘Wasn’t the President borrowing fresh loans while getting the PNC-incurred debt written off?’
Mr. Mervin in his letter titled, “Jagdeo can salvage his sagging legacy by restoring public confidence in govt,” stated that “If this system is the only reason he wants us to go by to believe him, then he needs to be reminded that in the world of politics a promise is a cold comfort to a fool, for if there is one trademark by which most politicians of all stripes are known, it is their penchant for making promises, which most of them never really keep most of the time. Worse, if a politician has a track record of broken promises, it doesn’t help his/her credibility to make promises.” Yet, he denies his implications of Jagdeo’s broken promises pertaining to his legacy.

It is good to know that Mr. Mervin now acknowledges the significance of the debt relief this Government was able to muster. And also, it is a noble point that we should have more exports via constructive exploitation of our resources; exports should pay for imports, in order to sustain a manageable balance of payments sheet.
I want to reiterate that sustaining the eligibility criteria set out by international lending agencies, such as, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) is not an easy accomplishment. Debt relief became necessary by virtue of the state of the economy in 1992 and the eight or nine years that Guyana took to reach financial viability.

The enormous funding that was required to rehabilitate, and in some cases, reconstruct the ailing social and economic infrastructures inherited in 1992, was unavailable within the Treasury. The foreign debt burden was of colossal proportions; the Government still had to make debt service payments, reduce the debt burden, while at the same time making funds available for the social services sector, such as health and education. Recall that only eight percent of revenues were available for the social sector in 1993.

But the debt service obligations, too, were of such magnitude that they consumed more than half the country’s export earnings, leaving precious little for the social services sector. Indeed, all social and economic development became problematic. In order to move Guyana progressively forward, the PPP/C Administration very quickly realised that the traditional debt relief mechanisms (concessional lending, rescheduling, loans) were inadequate to achieve sustainable external debt levels.
But today because of HIPC and Enhanced-HIPC debt relief, funds are now available for enhancing the social services sector. Government is also fully cognizant of the process of securing investments and this process is actively being pursued.

The mention of the PNCR full page advertisement in the newspapers, with the caption ‘Jagdeo – selfish and shameless’ is to confirm that there is press freedom and that this could not have happened if President Jagdeo was indeed autocratic. And with regard to the current NCN issue, the NCN Board reconsidered the matter and determined to rescind its prior decision.

The Sharma scenario attracted wide publicity and titillated the imaginations of the opposition forces and others. Any threat to kill any President of any country is more than serious; and a caller on the CNS TV ‘Voice of the People’ made such a threat. The broadcaster on CNS TV acknowledged the difficulty presented by this caller; and so CNS TV, through this broadcast, violated the conditions of the licence as well as the law. Yet CNS TV effected three unedited rebroadcasts of this programme; the television station had sufficient time to edit out the ‘threat’; but failed to take corrective action. And, this was the cause for CNS TV 4-month suspension.
And I sincerely acknowledge Mr. Mervin’s advice and will make the appropriate determination as circumstances dictate.
Prem Misir