Latest update April 7th, 2025 12:08 AM
Guyana’s economic growth is no fluke – Edghill
Guyana’s economic growth of five percent this year did not occur by fluke and is not surprising. It is based on prudent fiscal management of the economy and Government’s vision of investing in new and emerging sectors and tourism.
This notion was expressed by Junior Finance Minister Juan Edghill during a recent interview with this publication.
According to Edghill, “We can’t run away from the fact that this just happened and this is not just a fluke, because all of this is happening in a very volatile international environment, and Guyana’s steady growth over the last number of years…The figure should not be surprising, since it is consistent with what is happening over that period.”
Juan Edghill
He added that the percentage of Guyana’s economic growth was not “pulled out of a bag”. It is based on sound macroeconomic fundamentals, planning and engineering of various sectors to absorb shocks that would have come from different sectors.
The prospects of Guyana experiencing a five percent growth rate this year had seemed slim, with the traditional sugar industry performing dismally and reduction of the gold price on the international market.
In addition, the Guyana Bank of Trade and Industry in its unaudited Report on the Financial Performance of the Bank for the first six months of the financial year had said Guyana’s economy had slowed.
But, according to Edghill, while the sugar industry experienced difficulties, the rice industry did well. And though gold prices dropped, declaration exceeded all the other years. These successes speak of the will of the Guyanese people to face off any challenges, he added.
“And, while the prophets of doom would have liked to see a red line or a dark story, it shows that years of good planning, sound policies, and prudent fiscal management have paid off,” the Minister emphasized.
According to Edghill, “This is just not an internal view of (Finance Minister) Dr. Ashni Singh…Reputable organizations like the IMF and ECLAC have seen that Guyana’s economy is quite stable and is doing well.
The tug of war in Parliament between Government and the Opposition did not get to directly harm the economy since Parliament is not the Executive.
Edghill stressed that the management of the State is with the Executive, and President Donald Ramotar has appointed Dr. Singh as the leader, focal and prime person to manage the economy. He said that despite all that has happened in the National Assembly Dr. Singh and his team of the Ministry of Finance continues to map, plan, strategize, monitor, regulate, and make the necessary intervention to ensure Guyana has a very buoyant economy.
“We are growing, we are making progress, and we are safeguarding our economic future and fortunes,” he said.
“With all the difficulties we had in Parliament with the budget cuts, blocking of financial papers, and all the rest of it, he (Dr. Singh) is not being daunted by those negative attempts he has a vision.
We went to the electorate in 2011 and told the people that these are the things we are going to do…We spoke about new and emerging sectors; ICT has been one of those new and emerging sectors, tourism has been one of the buoyant developing sectors and it would be useful to see if what is happening in those two sectors has been balancing off some of the difficulties we have been having in this whole issue,” Edghill said.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Anticipation without preparation
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The Vice President of Guyana, ever the sagacious observer of the inevitable, has reassured... more
The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- Recent media stories have suggested that King Charles III could “invite” the United... more
Weekend Cartoon
