Jagdeo hoping non-oil sectors will meet growth projections

Jun 17, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Guyana’s non-oil economy such as its gold, forestry, agriculture and other sectors have in recent years failed to meet its growth projection but Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is hopeful that the projections made will be met this year.

The Vice President was at the time speaking to members of the media during a press engagement at the Office of the President when he spoke to the growth of the economy this year, growth to also be experienced in the non-oil economy.
He told members of the domestic media corps, “we have seen growth in several sector, we anticipate that the target will be met before the end of the year.”
He did note however, “we have had some setbacks because of the incessant rainfall in some areas but non-oil growth is crucial.”

To this end, the Vice President sought to explain saying, “what I am talking about is the policy that has to support the growth of the non-oil sector and that is why we are putting so much emphasis on food security, agriculture, on mining.”
Minister within the Office of the President, with responsibility for Finance in his budget presentation this year had reported that real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 19.9 percent, while non-oil GDP is estimated to have grown by 4.6 percent in 2021, despite the persistence of COVID- 19 as well as the impact of the floods.

He noted too that, “the very creditable performance of the non-oil productive sector reflects the delicate and dynamic policy balance struck between aggressive containment of COVID-19 on the one hand and phased reopening of the economy on the other hand.”
According to Dr. Singh, the performances also reflects the prompt and proactive flood mitigation measures which helped limit the fallout in the agriculture sector and supported the sector in resuming activity in the shortest possible time.

He said, additionally, the services sector recorded extraordinarily strong performances in response to a policy framework that has stimulated historic levels of demand for services and that has facilitated a commensurate response on the supply side. Oil export earnings amounted to US$1,376.5 million last year, he said, noting that “as a new oil and gas producer and the country with the 17th largest oil reserves in the world to date, the oil and gas sector promises to be the driver of historically high levels of growth in the Guyanese economy with strong positive spillovers into the non-oil economy.”