Growth declines in major sectors except gold in first quarter

May 08, 2017 News

Guyana’s economic growth continues to be dependent on the success of the mining industry, as the performance of some major sectors has declined while the mining and quarrying sectors continue to hold strong.

Gold continues to bolster Guyana’s economic growth

Within the Economic Bulletin for March, 2017, produced by the Ministry of Finance, it was stated that economic growth for 2017 remains targeted at 3.8 percent. The report said that this is expected to be driven by growth in the mining, quarrying and service sectors, including construction, electricity, water and other services.
The Ministry said that based on activities for the first two months of the year, the 3.8 percent rate appears feasible. However, it was noted that challenges in the sugar industry may result in its downward revision.
The report said that in February 2017, 3,669 tonnes of sugar was produced, compared with 5,151 tonnes in February 2016. In that month, sugar was produced mainly at the Blairmont and Uitvlugt estates. “Production was affected by rainfall, strike actions which resulted in some workers being off the job and suspended production at Skeldon. The latter occurred due to the unsafe nature of the co-generation plant.”
In the Mining and Quarrying sector, the Ministry recorded a decline in the production of bauxite. According to the data presented, bauxite production for February 2017 was 103,606 tonnes, compared to 136,377 tonnes in February 2016. Moreover, the report said that year-to-date production is 229,441 tonnes, compared to 280,901 tonnes produced in 2016. This represents a decline of 18.3 per cent.
The report attributed the low production in the first two months of the year to low demand. However, the Ministry is optimistic that the industry will expand in 2017 as demand and prices are expected to rise.
Gold production continues to surpass records, since for February 2017, production of the precious metal totalled 63,089 ounces, compared to 58,485 ounces in February 2016.
“This brings the year-to-date total to 108,048 ounces, compared to 94,432 in 2016. The main driver of growth for 2017 is the small and medium sized producers whose declarations rose significantly, compared to a fall in declarations for the two foreign companies.” These foreign entities referred to are Guyana Gold Fields Inc. and Troy Resources.
The report also highlighted the performance of the forestry sector whereby production for February 2017 totalled 21,900 cubic metres compared to 25,319 cubic metres the same time last year. As a result, the year-to-date production stands at 37,074 cubic metres compared to 51,052 cubic metres for the same period in 2016.
This decline in production was attributed to the non-renewal of Barama’s forest concessions as well as government’s repossession of Bai Shan Lin’s concessions. According to the Ministry, these steps were taken as government aims to attract investors that will provide more value added forest productions. It was also noted that the demand in China for Wamara logs had reduced significantly.
According to the Finance Ministry, fiscal policy is one of the main tools for stimulating growth in the country. As such, the government has injected $1.3B in capital expenditure for January and February 2017 compared to 2016. The Ministry said that this stimulus, which also includes expenditure on several multi-year capital projects, is expected to catalyse the process for robust economic growth this year.

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