Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 25, 2016 Letters
Dear Editor,
A country endowed with minerals and other natural resources continue to be extremely poor even though the said country does not suffer from over population and miseducation.
The questions raised as to why Guyana is in such a delicate balance depends on the political operatives that make up the governing elite and the racial quagmire that the people of Guyana do not view as an impediment to national development, for if they did, people would have demanded that laws would have been enacted to minimize the racial effect of selecting ministers based on their race and not on stated national policies.
We have seen the decisions that are being made by the politicians without in-depth thought about the future consequences of their decisions. With the racial atmosphere that clouds all aspects of the Guyanese social and political structure, it is very discernible that the wrong persons are occupying the political environ, free from any accountability and retributory consequences for their decisions made.
Guyana is about to celebrate 50 years of independence, after being governed by governments from dictatorships to blatant pilferers, encompassing the thought of becoming wealthy at the people’s expense. Since independence, Guyana did not build a factory that the people could say provide or satisfy a national need. In the meantime, we the people, continue to import every conceivable good for consumption. Over the fifty year period we continue to import, some agricultural goods, that before independence were grown in Guyana.
Guyana, a member of CARICOM
My prior criticism of Guyana becoming a member of CARICOM at its inception, is evidenced by the amount of foreign goods now available in the Guyanese markets. Even candies that were provided by Guyanese candy makers, have been supplanted by foreign candy.
Most of the Guyanese candy makers have been replaced. No more do we see the candy sellers that were around Stabroek market, in abundance, peddling their home made products. There are many other local products that have suffered the same faith of slowly dying due to a lax importation policy by the past governments and the inundation of foreign made goods as they appear in the local markets.
The problem is due to Guyana not having a ‘productive economy’. In other words, Guyana does not manufacture most of what it consumes, other than agricultural products and given that many other countries produce the same agricultural products put Guyana in a disadvantageous position to obtain a moderate price for its local products.
Consequently, Guyana must have some limitations on what is being imported.
This does not mean that Guyana should engage in the very policy of banning all imported products as did the PNC under Burnham, but there must be some limitations on how much and what is imported. This in turn, would give local producers an edge to improve their production in a less competitive environment.
Guyana cannot continue to consume every single product made for the consumer when it does not defray the cost of those products by some form of manufacturing of those products.
If Guyana does not produce the product then it would be prudent to limit the amount of that product that is imported. Banning the product, as Burnham did, is not politically feasible and cause illegal importation, which in turn, lead to consumers being convicted of illegal importation.
It is not the intent to cover topics of economics, but Guyana’s problem is mired in the economic policies that the government adapts, and as we prepare to celebrate 50 years of being independent we must be aware of the pitfalls that keep us in economic drudgery, where currently, we have nothing much to show as a national achievement since independence. The only factory built since independence was the Glass factory that lasted for a few months. Currently, Guyana continue to consume glass for all buildings.
Guyana Exchange Rate
Why are people in Guyana spending their hard earned dollars to purchase foreign made products, even to the detriment of locally made products? Could this be due to the fact that the Guyanese public has been fooled to think that foreign is better?
This mode of spending could adversely affect the exchange rate. Guyana will never develop or achieve spending equity with any country when the American dollar US$1.00 is worth $200 or more Guyana dollars. Since Guyana does not have a sizeable manufacturing sector and must import every conceivable product, makes Guyana a spend thrift nation with all monies earned being spent for consumption.
Most Caribbean Islands are much smaller than Guyana with almost no natural resources other that beaches, yet they have a much healthier exchange rate and with some being less populated than Guyana.
This may be due to Guyana’s spending habits and a lack of foreign reserve earnings. This mode of spending inhibits Guyana from having a sizable foreign reserve. The Guyana dollar would never appreciate if the spending pattern continues to be predicated on foreign goods purchase coupled with a lack of production of any manufactured goods. Guyana ‘s exchange rate relative to the American dollar have been constant for close to a decade at about US$1 exchanging for $200. Guyana dollars. This disparity in rates is predicated on Balance of Payments deficit, Government Debt, Political Stability and National Speculation.
No one of the listed factors, by themselves, adversely affect Guyana’s exchange rate. There are other factors such as interest rates and terms of trade when combined with other factors like imports and exports keep Guyana fixed in economic morbidity. Unfortunately Guyana does not have much to export.
The gold mining entity, which is a national give away, does not bode well when related to foreign export earnings. The same pattern of give-away has saddled the forest sector without any mode of reforestation. Guyana government does not demand that some trees uprooted during mining, and or for timber, must be replanted.
Guyanese must be cognisant that every new, so called investor, is only interested in operating in the mineral sector resulting in large unfilled lakes and uprooted trees.
Guyana as a country is a national disgrace when examined relative to the other West Indian Countries. There is no island where Guyanese don’t live, having left Guyana for what could be considered ranches, small in size without any natural resources, yet there is a preponderance of Guyanese residing there. The national quagmire is obvious for all to see.
The past and current governments of Guyana coupled with racial ignorance keep Guyana on its path to obscurity, with most government policy done to supplant personal income. This is quite obvious during the reign of the last government and to date no one has been held responsible, tried and convicted.
Patrick Barker
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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