Govt. should leave business to private sector- GTT, CEO

Oct 07, 2017 News

Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Telephone Telegraph (GTT), Justin Nedd says that it will be best for Guyana if government leaves “private sector activities to the private sector.”

CEO of GTT, Justin Nedd

Nedd said this as he spoke at a recent conference held under the theme, “The Transformational economy: Perspectives and Opportunities for Guyana’s Private Sector.”
Nedd said that while oil will bring good economic benefits to Guyana, government must not undervalue the role of ICT.
He observed that ICT plays a pivotal role in the development of the economy. “When oil gets here, ICT will be here, when oil starts to decline, ICT will continue to be here. It is not for us to turn to oil and forget the leverage that ICT bring to the growing economy.”
Nedd said that GTT is committed to continuing the development of the ICT sector.
He said however that it is useful for “us” to identify what is needed in order to develop the ICT sector and bridge its digital divide “so that we can bring more broadband internet to as many residents of Guyana as possible.”
Among the things needed is a regulatory framework to govern the sector that falls into government policy.
Further, Nedd said, “government should leave private sector activities to the private sector. Many times government thinks this is a business that I can get into and do better than the private sector. Most times it does not turn out quite so.”
Nedd said that Guyana is most likely not to be the exception.
Further, Nedd said that there should be a level playing field. “We are all for the competition and we are in favor of liberalizing the telecommunication sector. We are having talks but what we are asking for is a level playing field.”
Nedd also said that government should have a taxation policy that really encourages investment “because if the government tries to raise money by raising taxes, I think this is a really destructive endeavor because it will just stymie private sector investment because businesses have a profit incentive.”
Nedd said that GTT is very optimistic “with the progress we are making with Minister (Cathy) Hughes and government in general.”

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