Businesses concerned about Govt.’s non-action towards public corruption

Mar 19, 2014 News

Members of the business community have expressed utter dissatisfaction with the way in which the public corruption is being addressed by the government. The business community is of the view that instances of corruption have increased and as such it has said that the situation warrants immediate intervention by Government.
This was revealed when the President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), Clinton Urling presented the findings of an attitudinal survey recently.
Urling explained that the report, which is the third to be presented, is geared towards assessing the views of its members on a wide range of issues in relation to the profits and losses of their businesses and their expectations of the economy.
The findings of the report indicate that in comparison to last year, everything from profits to confidence in security provided by the Guyana Police Force is on a downward spiral.
This year, the Industry received responses from 80 of its members. Urling said that this year’s responses indicate shrinking business performance in 2013 and muted optimism for this year’s economy.
He explained that some 75 percent of the respondents reported a profit position in 2013. However, twenty-five percent reported a loss. This was the highest percentage recorded in the survey’s recent history.
Cost, he added, remains a significant concern to the members of the GCCI with 78 percent reporting increased costs in 2013 and 91 percent expecting costs to continue to be on the increase.
Members were asked to identify an agency which they feel needs to be improved or established, and ranking top of the list was the Guyana Police Force, with 72 percent of the members expressing that they believe the operations of the force should be improved.
Coming in next on the list was the City Council with 62 percent. The improvement of the Parliament with 50 percent and the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission with 47 percent were the other considerations.
However, the perceptions of public corruption have grown to an “overwhelming percent”. The survey reported that 70 percent of the businessmen believed that corruption was high whilst 89 percent believe that government is not doing enough to curb the situation.
In terms of major obstacles that still face businesses, it was found that retaining good employees has become a most worrying issue while crime and security ranked as the second most troubling obstacle with 30 percent. High tax rates and the high cost of electricity and political instability also ranked as obstacles.
When asked about the extent of government’s intervention on responding to the findings of the report, Urling contended that, “policy advocacy does not guarantee policy action.” He expressed that some action was taken at the level of the national budget, but he did not indicate as to whether these concerns of the business community were taken seriously or addressed in any manner.

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Businesses concerned about Govt.’s non-action towards public corruption

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