Latest update March 29th, 2025 5:38 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

THE FIGURES DO NOT LIE

Jun 25, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

 

A call to be enlightened is not always a call for information or knowledge. It can represent a refusal to accept what is blatantly obvious but too unbelievable to accept.
Guyana is no longer the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere. Guyana was once regarded as a low income country, and second from the bottom rung when it came to being poor in the western hemisphere.
This was what Guyana, one of the jewels of Britain’s colonial empire, was reduced to by the time the PPPC came to power in 1992. Instead of glittering, Guyana found itself with stifling for economic oxygen and with a noose of debt hanging around its neck. We were categorized as one of the world’s most highly indebted nations. But with the help of a government which many still delude themselves into believing never would have been able to muster the capacity to administer the affairs of the State, having been in the political wilderness for the twenty eight years.
That prediction has been proven wrong. Not only has Guyana graduated from a low income country to a low middle income country but it is no longer on the second rung from the bottom when it comes to the western hemisphere.
There are many ways of measuring poor but in economic terms the most fundamental measure is per capita GDP. This is found by quantifying the total value of goods and services produced in an economy and divided that number by the population.
In terms of per capita GDP, Guyana has now surpassed Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras and Haiti.  If the PPPC is allowed to continue its growth-promotion policies, within the next five years, Guyana will be ranked above Paraguay, El Salvador, Belize and Guatemala; and within ten years we will be less poor than Jamaica and Peru.
If one were to measure poverty by other indicators that incorporate human development indices, Guyana would today be ranked much higher.  Whatever way you wish to look at it there has been significant economic progress in Guyana since assumed the reins of power in 1992.This is an indisputable reality of the degree of the progress that has been achieved in Guyana and it is verifiable by recourse to the available statistics which can now be ground with the click of a mouse.
But it will take more than that to convince some people that Guyana is now in much better economic shape than the days when pone, cassava flour and rice cake were the dominant staples for breakfast.
It will take much more than statistics to also convince many that while our national debt is increasing relative to a few years ago, our ability to service this debt is more than ten times better than it was during that period when nine out of every ten dollars collected could not cover scheduled debt servicing.
The excuse of course was that this was not a problem because while scheduled debt servicing was high, the country was not paying its full scheduled debt servicing. It was this type of hyperbole that got us into the debt mess in the first place. Because we were unable to pay, the unpaid debt servicing became capitalized and ended up making Guyana qualify as one of the highly indebted poor countries of the world.
Guyana in fact is no longer considered a highly indebted poor country. If the PPPC never does anything else for Guyana, it should be thanked for digging us out of two deep holes:  the debt trap and the infamy of once being classified as the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere.

 

 

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Milo/Massy U18 Football heats up with Round III action

Milo/Massy U18 Football heats up with Round III action

Mar 29, 2025

…Two days, eleven matches Kaieteur Sports- After two rounds of scintillating action in the 11th edition of the Milo/Massy Boys’ Under-18 Football Championship, eight teams have managed to...
Read More
BCB bowls off U19 Inter-club Competition today

BCB bowls off U19 Inter-club Competition today

Mar 29, 2025

Nedd, Thorne recalled ahead of final rounds

Nedd, Thorne recalled ahead of final rounds

Mar 29, 2025

Mice and Jermaine $1.7M Linden Futsal tournament starts tonight with three matches at Retrieve Hard Court

Mice and Jermaine $1.7M Linden Futsal tournament...

Mar 28, 2025

Slingerz FC hunt second win tonight

Slingerz FC hunt second win tonight

Mar 28, 2025

More sponsors on board ahead of Second Annual GGA/NSC National Long Drive Championship set for Saturday

More sponsors on board ahead of Second Annual...

Mar 28, 2025

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]