Putting those thousands out of work is not a good idea

May 25, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Downsizing of the sugar industry may not be the best way forward. This is because the corporation GUYSUCO has a huge debt of some GYD80Bn. Should the sugar industry be downsized then Guysuco will never be able to repay its debt. Downsizing may seem attractive but it is not a well thought out solution to saving the sugar industry, as a cut in revenue will impact negatively on the industry. On top of that, putting 5,000 to 10,000 people out of work to save a little bit of money is never a good idea as this will push tens of thousands of people into poverty.
Let us not forget that the sugar industry brings in nearly US$80m per year in foreign currency as it is an export industry. It does not make any business sense to downsize your export industries especially when you would need foreign currency to pay for imported goods and services like electricity, etc. Already we have seen the exchange rate destabilizing. OIL production is just around the corner. So, Guyana can continue to subsidize its sugar industry.
Since many of Guyana’s industries may not be competitive on the world stage are we to downsize all of Guyana’s industries with the hope of saving a little bit of money? The answer is no! It would be better to invest in the sugar industry to increase production, bring down the cost of production, etc. As the rest of the world can bring down the cost of production of sugar, so can us.
Sean Ori

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