A NEW ECONOMIC MODEL FOR GUYANA ECONOMY

Feb 08, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Following the Guyana National Budget 2025, the fiscal budget brings collective hope. The right argues that we need a budget for the sake of future generations.

Now is the moment to initiate substantial medium- and long-term public investments to stimulate job creation and foster new investment opportunities for industrial sectors that remain vital to Guyana’s development. We must concentrate on building new urban and inter-regional roads, investing in the energy sector, expanding low-carbon energy sources, enhancing essential public services such as childcare and healthcare, and significantly increasing investment in public education at all levels and workers’ skills.

These investments, especially in public services and energy efficiency, are labour-intensive, create more jobs than increased consumer spending, and simultaneously support our environmental, community development, and social justice goals.

We require a period of growth driven by public investment to revitalise the entire economy. Public infrastructure and services play a vital role in enhancing the productivity of the private sector—investment from the public sector facilitates investment from the private sector.

This high-growth strategy may represent the most advantageous approach to establishing Guyana’s modern industrial economy. However, given the emerging constraints on global demand, it is more likely to succeed in laying the foundation for sustained growth than a traditional export-oriented industrial strategy. Furthermore, it would be more effective in creating opportunities for the majority of Guyanese people in the short to medium term, thereby helping to address employment.

Together, as we all strive to cultivate a culture where others can lead lives filled with purpose and service, let us continue to learn from each other. I agree that embarking on or persevering in our journey to become transformational leaders, like President Irfaan Ali, profoundly transforms one’s life. This President, however, also looks beyond the conventional growth metrics of Guyana’s economy and into its heart and soul.

It should be a space dedicated to a purpose, where we engage in meaningful work with those we care about and for a cause we cherish.

Finally, there is morality. Morality encompasses a great deal, I understand. To me, morality signifies recognizing the difference between right and wrong. It involves steering clear of the precipice to avoid succumbing to the trap. It is about doing the right thing, irrespective of the cost.

Yours faithfully

Sherwood Clarke

General Secretary

Clerical & Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU)

(A NEW ECONOMIC MODEL FOR GUYANA ECONOMY)

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fiscal budget, Guyana, Investments, labour-intensive, National Budget 2025

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