Tax exemption, land availability among incentives for new investors in energy sector– Minister Bharrat

Aug 06, 2022 News

– says government will provide complementary infrastructure like roads and bridges

Kaieteur News – In his effort to entice the business community to head to Guyana’s shores and invest, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, listed tax-exemptions and land availability among several other incentives as some of the fiscal goodies they stand to benefit from.

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat

The minister even went as far as stating that the Government of Guyana (GoG) will build complementary infrastructure like roads and bridges to support the new endeavors.

It was in the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) 2022/2023 magazine titled, ‘Guyana-Investor Paradise’ where the minister listed attractive incentives for investors and the advantages of investing in Guyana.

Minister Bharrat shared that the PPP administration is pro-business and therefore believes in creating an enabling environment to facilitate investments which will, in turn, spur economic growth in all sectors (traditional and non-traditional).

He first listed some of the advantages of investing in Guyana. Those he said are: fastest growing economy, resource-rich country, English-speaking, multi-sector opportunities, low operation costs, ideal location to access regional and global markets.

The others he listed are: “fiscal incentives for investments, tax exemptions for risk-bearing investments, private sector-focused government, affordable labour, land availability, ease of doing business and Single window system to be implemented soon.”

Notably, while the minister listed land availability as an advantage to invest in Guyana – last month during the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) mid-year dinner, Guyana’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, underscored that the State is running out of land.

In fact he said, “Secondly, there is this fallacy that we have a lot of land. Everybody that comes to Guyana says ‘oh you have a lot of land for agriculture and everything else,’ it is a fallacy.” The Vice President had explained that a vast majority of the country is the forest, leaving a limited coastal strip land. As such, he said that the government can get more land by cutting down parts of the forest, but noted that he does not think it is desirable to do so.

In relation to the attractive incentives the government would create, the Natural Resources Minister stated in the magazine that investors will be exempted from the payment of Duty and Value Added Tax on all critical building materials and equipment.

In relation to dockyard and ship building, Bharrat said that investors will also be exempted from the payment of Duty and taxes for the operation of dry-docking facilities. The same will be done for all machinery and equipment used in recycling.

Additionally, other enticements include: providing tax incentives for new investments, re-tooling, and technological improvements; establishing industrial parks/estates for manufacturing in coastal and hinterland regions; creating a fund to stimulate innovation and new businesses and providing complementary infrastructures such as roads, bridges, airstrips, training institutes, for investors.

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