2018 growth rate to be revised upwards –Finance Minister

Mar 14, 2019 News

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, is currently preparing the End of Year Outcome report for 2018 for presentation by mid-April. In providing a preview to the results thus far, the e

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan

conomist said that last year’s growth is expected to be revised upwards.
During an exclusive interview, the Finance Minister said that this would be based on the strength of better performance in sugar. He said that it should be in the range 3.6 to 3.9 percent. Jordan said that final numbers will be in the report.

In his 2019 budget speech, the Finance Minister had said that projection for real growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), for 2018, would be 3.4 percent, a significant improvement on the 2.1 percent recorded in 2017.
With the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) now charged with managing the operations of three estates, Jordan had said that the viability of the nation’s sugar industry has been given a new opportunity with restructured cost profiles.
He had said that the ongoing recapitalization of the Albion, Blairmont and Uitvlugt Estates, as part of the Sugar Task Force three-year plan for GuySuCo, is anticipated to result in production in future years rising from a low of 98,000 tonnes by the end of 2018, to nearly 145,000 tonnes by 2021.
Further to this, the Finance Minister had said that the Guyana Sugar Corporation will continue to introduce cost-reducing measures, explore lucrative markets and marketing strategies, and undertake critical capital works. He had said that sugar production is projected to increase to 113,262 metric tonnes, in 2019.

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