Business Ministry continues efforts to boost private sector

Business Ministry continues efforts to boost private sector – Minister Gaskin

Jan 09, 2018 News

Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin

Despite the fact that many business owners continue to complain about a downturn and the pressing need to downsize, Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin seems quite satisfied with the efforts being made by his Ministry to boost the private sector.

Gaskin recently spoke to Kaieteur News about a range of matters falling under his ministry. Speaking about the economic slowdown and the downturn in business, the Minister was keen to note that Guyana is not alone in its plight.

He said, “The region has been experiencing economic slow-down and Guyana is no different. Among other things, our reliance on primary commodities makes us vulnerable to volatility in global prices which seriously impacts our economy in times of weak demand for commodities. Notwithstanding the challenges, our economy has proven to be very resilient.

Latin America and Caribbean states overall growth projection for 2017 is pegged at 0.8 percent as opposed to Guyana’s which is projected to grow by 3.1 percent.”

Gaskin said that while the Ministry of Business is not the implementer of fiscal policies that would largely address economic trends, its priority remains to improve the business environment through reforms that seek to make it easier for persons to invest and operate a business in Guyana.

“We continue to seek out opportunities and facilitate business growth and economic activities in Guyana. There is high investor interest in Guyana; we have facilitated several trade missions since 2015 to date.

“In June 2017 a Business Processes Outsourcing trade mission was arranged and this has been positive for the BPO sector with local operators expressing optimism about the potential outcomes. This is a sector where a single contract could result in hundreds of jobs being created” said Gaskin.

The Minister also noted that in September last year, oil and gas trade mission from Newfoundland was facilitated. That has opened up opportunities for joint venture partnerships with local companies. Gaskin noted too that the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) continues to hold follow-up events to build on what has been secured from the Newfoundland trade mission.

He said that GO-Invest recently concluded a two-day joint venture training seminar which attracted over 200 local companies.

“We expect that this will put in motion a few joint venture arrangements in the very short-term. We have also been facilitating access to overseas markets for local companies and products. For last year, 44 companies were matched with overseas buyers,” said Gaskin.

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