Positive economic growth rate likely to continue – finance minister

…We will not mortgage the future of Guyana for political gain
BY MICHAEL YOUNGE

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh said government will not give into pressure to make short-term decisions, which will impact negatively on Guyana’s long-term financial and economic sustainability, as he forecast continued positive growth in the economy this year.
Dr Singh’s comments come on the heels of continued anxiety by the business community about the state of affairs in the country following the opposition instituted budget cuts, and an apparent “tension” that looms over the public about the way forward under the new parliamentary dispensation, which has been marred by deadlock.
Speaking during a TVG 28 Programme “Under the Microscope”, the finance minister said that Guyana’s future was too important to be left up to the whims and fancies of political commentators and opposition politicians who were apparently solely interested in achieving “political accolades and points” at the expense of furthering the democratic and economic gains made under the leadership of the ruling party.  “We will not mortgage the future of Guyana at the altar of expense for short-term political expediency,” he asserted, noting that “even under pressure” the administration would not consider bowing to irrational and politically popular demands of critics.

Hard choices
“We resisted the temptation to follow the politically popular choices which would have been easy choices for us in the short term, but would have proven detrimental in the long term,” he argued.
“We could not do otherwise as a responsible government,” he reiterated during the interview. Dr Singh argued that Guyana’s struggle for economic and financial stability, effective macroeconomic and microeconomic frameworks, and modernised fiscal legislation has been long and hard.
“We have worked very hard to achieve the macroeconomic stability and strength that we have secured… It took tough decisions and we haven’t shied away from making those decisions,” he stressed.
He said critics and opposition personalities need to be reminded that Guyanese were confident that the current administration had the best plan for the country’s development, and hence its re-election as the party with the single largest bloc of votes.
The finance minister reasoned that bowing to the demands of the opposition on issues related principally to the financial and economic management of the country would easily result in both him and the president becoming extremely popular and benefiting from short-term endorsements but this did not interest them.  Accordingly, he stated that the administration is more concerned about creating an environment that reflects the opposite that occurred in the country during the pre-1992 era.
Dr Singh said the combined opposition, based upon its posture thus far in the 10th Parliament, does not seem interested in safeguarding the developmental aspirations of the country. He said from all indications, it appears that the opposition is focused on playing “a game of Chinese checkers” with the future of Guyana and major transformative developmental projects.
“Referring to their charges of corruption, I would say that the opposition is practising politics of innuendos, besmirching people’s characters by personal assaults and completely fabricating stories or misrepresenting facts,” Dr Singh contended as he made reference to the NICIL debacle.
He said an attempt is being made to undermine the economic and developmental strength of the country, with the opposition’s continued attacks on major projects such as Marriott Hotel and the Amaila Falls Hydropower project that have been made transparent to the public and fully ventilated.
The finance minister said the opposition has thrown reason to the wind as it continued its assault on the projects, even though it has benefited from all the information it requested.
“It is downright irresponsible to undermine projects of national importance,” he stressed.  He explained that the confidence of investors is greatly affected, and the image of the country sacrificed when the opposition plays politics with the future and economic stability of the country. Dr Singh dismissed as “baseless” the allegations made by the parliamentary opposition about the “fat cats” and persons receiving “super salaries” in government agencies.
“None of their innuendos were substantiated by evidence presented before the Parliament,” he revealed, stating that the opposition’s corruption charges and assumptions about the governance and integrity of the government was wrong.
“It is to this government’s credit that in a Parliament that is controlled by the opposition, virtually all of the budget allocated for contract employees benefited from the opposition support and were passed,” he highlighted after severe opposition scrutiny which yielded zero results.

Naysayers and doomsayers
Meanwhile, the finance minister said government will not be distracted by the naysayers and doomsayers because it has a constitutional responsibility to discharge.  Despite what he referred to as the unjustified and politically inspired cuts on the national budget, the finance minister is still confident that Guyana will achieve growth in the long term when a careful analysis is done on other aspects of the budget and economy minus the cuts.
“I believe that there is sufficient momentum in the economy, that the economy will continue to grow and the uninterrupted growth that you have seen in the last five to six years will continue in 2012,” he announced as the first quarter comes to a close.
He said that notwithstanding the budget cuts, there will be sustained government spending on infrastructure and other social areas in sufficient sectors. Dr Singh said the dynamism of the Guyanese economy which impacts growth, is not only driven by government spending, but also by the private sector and private investment.
“There has been a continued unprecedented amount of private investment in the economy to date,” he argued, explaining that the gains and investments activities in areas such as gold, diamond, and bauxite mining; building and construction and others will prove beneficial in the long term.
Asked whether the budget cuts will have an impact on the economy from a microeconomic perspective, Dr Singh responded in the positive.
“Without a doubt, these cuts will have an impact on the economy and maybe on the individual economic agents, whether corporate or otherwise,” he offered.