Policy slippage occurred under Jagdeo’s watch

Nov 05, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
In May 1999, the IMF said that Guyana’s “economy improved substantially in the period 1991-1997 as result of the economic reforms implemented since 1988”.  The IMF however went on to say that the economic performance slipped as a result of shocks and policy slippage.  Under whose watch did these policy slippages occurred?  Dr. Jagan was long dead and gone and Mrs. Jagan was out of the way of Bharat Jagdeo as a “private citizen” when these policy slippages occurred.
There are a few issues that must be highlighted to destroy the myth of the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime that they brought economic prosperity to Guyana namely: The debt write-off that shaved 54% of Guyana’s debt off the books was as a result of hard economic work that started since – 1988.  Who was the President of Guyana in 1988? – Desmond Hoyte.  Who was the Minister of Finance – Carl Greenidge? Work continued until 1997 but the hard initial policy measures and negotiations was done under the Hoyte administration; this is a fact.
This work was continued under the Presidency of Dr Cheddi Jagan and his most able Minister of Finance Dr. Asgar Ally.
By the time Bharat Jagdeo came to office, the heavy lifting was already done but unfortunately he chose to get his propaganda machinery to give him all the credit and not recognizing the hard work of the world class economist like Carl Greenidge, Haslyn Parris, Asgar Ally and Dr. Gobind Ganga (a key advisor to Dr. Cheddi Jagan at the time) and their political leader Desmond Hoyte and Cheddi Jagan, who were collectively the principle thinkers behind the entire strategy.
In the interest of truth, we would like this publication of facts to be highlighted for the records books.
Dr Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh