The Immigrant Factor – key to development

Oct 24, 2008 Peeping Tom

---

INTRODUCTION:
I touched on this subject a few years back and given the heavy lobbying we have been doing on the Brazilian connection, it is time we re-look at the issue of Immigration and whether our laws are current.
Every country must have strong immigration laws but it should be balanced to economic development. Canada, for example, allows for self-sponsorship if you have a skill that is needed. Business drivers are tied to public policies in many ways. We constantly talk about reviving our nation’s economy, and why we have so little foreign investments to why there is still so much poverty in our nation while other nations around us seem to strive. This opens the discussion to immigration and how do we manage the need for economic development.
THE POLICIES
Many of us have talked about creating a Tiger economy, such as building the road to Brazil to the deep water harbour. In 2006, the Minister of Foreign Trade said that one of his highest priorities over the next year would be the Brazilian connection. It has been two years and we have not really seen any major initiative from his office. Not good.
What should be our immigration policy? What are the steps necessary to ensure we attract the right investments while also importing the skill sets that we need to create stability in our job market?
A gap analysis must be completed for any new industry with skills we can maintain in Guyana and those we will need to import. This is a topic that becomes emotional as we had seen a few years back in the Ansa McAl potential takeover of Banks Ltd. and the backlash it spurned. Many will ask “why do we need to import skills and open up our borders to immigrants?” This compounds a dual problem we face; stopping our limited skill migration while attracting additional skill workers for specific targeted investments. Increased immigration would bring advantages in the form of the high net contribution that highly-qualified immigrants would make to the economy as a whole. They would not be economically dependent for long periods as in the case with those born and raised in Guyana, and savings would also be made on the costs of education. The experience of other countries indicates that economic migrants are far less likely to be a drain on the welfare system than those from the native population.
BENEFITS FOR THE LAW
Immigration without the right tax laws, the right focus on industries that will turn us into a tiger economy will have no value. I propose that we present legislation to our Parliament on what our immigration policy will look like as we simultaneously create an integrated economic plan to improve the wealth of our population. We cannot continue to manage in stove pipes, where policy does not meet reality and ministries function on their own without integration and measurements to an economic plan.
Our president talks about our exports which are the same issue facing the Brazilian economy. It is widely known that infrastructure is one of Brazil’s bottlenecks – the logistics sector as a whole. President Lula has built the bridge, thus, the link through Guyana becomes a critical component of their plans. With that comes an immigration issue as new industries are created.
PRIVATE SECTOR INVOLVEMENT
We in the private sector understand the need for skills and knowledge workers, the need to increase our population to match our investment strategy. Guyana needs a minimum of 1-3 million new knowledge workers to change our industries. We cannot do more with the workforce we currently have.
In other words, it is of essence that our country adopts, and keeps to a minimum agenda in order to take the path to development. Such an agenda must include four structural adjustments: a) infrastructure improvements, b) adopting a trade policy that will increase exports in a sustainable fashion, c) fiscal and tax reforms to reduce the tax burden the productive sector currently bears and d) an immigration policy that improves our workforce while maintaining our local skills.
CONCLUSION
We have to adopt a tax policy that encourages, not hinders, economic growth and productive activities. One of the reasons that we must ensure we build an integrated economic plan is that none of this can work well without other components, such as security, investing in electricity generation, and the development of public-private-partnerships (P3)
The private sector working alongside the public sector must immediately work together to write an immigration policy that includes linkages to our tax system, starting a new company and getting work permits. A recent investor told me it took him five months to get a work permit. Let us get this key component done while aggressively looking at the other adjustments necessary to improve our nation and real wealth for our citizens. Until next time, “Roop”.

---

---