Sugar, Rice and Gold suffer blows during 2019 first quarter – Central Bank Report reveals

Aug 13, 2019 News

The Quarterly Report and Statistical Bulletin of the Central Bank has revealed that the agriculture sector registered increases in the output of forestry, fishing and other crops which were attributed to greater productive capacities as well as favourable market conditions.
But in the case of sugar, rice and gold, these major economic pillars took a beating for the first quarter of 2019.
According to the Central Bank, sugar experienced a shortfall in production with the restructuring of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). It was noted that sugar declined by 34.3 percent. As for the rice industry, it was found that output declined by 9.3 percent due to significant paddy bug infestation as well as increased costs for inputs.
The mining and quarrying sector registered lower production during the period under review. Further, the gold industry experienced a decline in declaration by the foreign gold mining companies, while there were increased declarations by the local small and medium scale gold miners. As for bauxite, Bank of Guyana said that the outturn plummeted on account of industrial unrest at RUSAL mining operations. The construction sector experienced accelerated public & private investments.
With respect to the outturn in the services sector, Central Bank said that this was reflective of activities in the real estate and storage subsectors. It said that preliminary estimates suggest that the activities of the petroleum industry have capitalized economic activities, particularly in the construction and services sectors during the first quarter of 2019.
Turning its attention to the performance of the manufacturing sector, the financial regulator said that this was mixed with increased production of ice cream, margarine and non-alcoholic beverages while there was decreased output of oxygen, liquid pharmaceuticals, acetylene and nitrogen gas.
As for the inflation rate (year to date), Central Bank said that this was somewhat flat at 0.1 percent at the end of March 2019. It further stated that this marginal uptick resulted from the increase in food prices.
In addition to this, Central Bank noted in its report that there were declines in the price indices of housing (which comprises fuel and power), as well as transport and communication.
The Bank’s statistical data also indicate that the overall balance of payments recorded a lower deficit of US$71.2 million at the end of March 2019 compared to US$94.0 million for the same period last year. This was primarily due to a higher capital account surplus. Central Bank explained that the capital account surplus resulted from increased foreign direct investments, mainly on account of the oil and gas sector, at the end of March 2019.

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