Guyana’s economic climate encourages greater diversification

Sep 30, 2012 News

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– Urling

Under the theme ‘strengthening the traditional and embracing the new’, the Guyana Exposition (GuyExpo) which commenced last Thursday will see both Government and the private sector sending a very strong business message to entities and countries around the globe.
At least this is the opinion of President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Mr Clinton Urling.
Urling was at the time addressing a GuyExpo networking forum at the Guyana International Conference on Friday which saw the attendance of a number of overseas delegates who are participating in the exposition.

According to the GCCI President, “Guyana isn’t just open for business but it can be one of the best places to succeed in business”. In his brief presentation to the gathering, he highlighted a number of reasons to invest in Guyana, among them the fact that Guyana has had six consecutive years of economic growth. He alluded to the recent mid-year report which shows a growth of 2.8 per cent. adding that “we are expecting an additional year of growth when the final figures have been crunched at the end of the year”.
Urling pointed out too that there is a clear and robust economic blueprint for Guyana which is emphasised through the country’s Competitiveness Strategy.
Additionally, he alluded to the robust and fair regulations Guyana has had over the years coupled with a strong macro-economic environment and a strong financial sector that was not affected by the financial crisis of 2008/2009.
The GCCI President also made reference to the fact that Guyana has no currency controls, has attractive investment incentives, there is affordable land and labour, free and open trade and economic policies, and there is an active trade and investment facilitation agency – Go-Invest.
In addition, he said, GuyExpo will present an opportunity “for you as potential investors to get a more detailed and comprehensive picture of what businesses and the private sector companies in Guyana are investing in, and what are the emerging opportunities available”. The exhibition, which is set to conclude today, is also expected to expose investors to the programmes and policies of Government that contribute to a favourable economic environment, Urling added.
According to him, the event is also geared at helping potential investors to network and establish business links with other businesses and individuals.  This particular component, Urling stressed, can prove to be a very critical factor for the success of any endeavour.  In order to maintain and extend on economic successes and also build on its resilience to global economic shocks, it is absolutely critical that increasing exports and foreign direct investments are two core economic priorities of Guyana, Urling noted.
As such, he highlighted that the exposition will help in the realisation of both of those goals even as he explained that since Guyana is a small country with a small market population, it must look externally to the global market place for companies to succeed.
“Similarly, when looking at the market for investors, we have to look globally at the companies with the vast resources, large financial capital and the know-how to exploit the opportunities available in Guyana, hence the critical role played by foreign direct investments,” Urling asserted.
He related, too, that another important policy and vision goal has to be the “almost obsessive and stubborn commitment to diversification as opposed to concentration.”
“Over the course of our history, Guyana has seen enormous success with investments in our agricultural and natural resources’ sectors, both primary producing sectors. But for us to succeed in the long term and to reduce our exposure and vulnerability to exogenous economic shocks, we must expand the export portfolio to include trade in high value industrial goods.”
Urling underscored too that it has been shown by numerous studies that where high levels of export concentration exist, export earnings fluctuate with international price fluctuations. This, he said, is seen especially in the case of commodity and primary products, whereas countries with more diversified export portfolios have a more stable stream of export and reliable revenues.
“This is an area that I know that our Government is committed to and if one is looking for any clear indication of this you just need to look at what the theme of GuyExpo is.”
The GuyExpo theme, he stressed, is a clear indication that the direction that the country is seeking to go, is towards diversification into new products and services.

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