Dear Editor,
On Sunday night the CNN program 60 minutes did a piece on the development of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), specifically Dubai. One of the things I found interesting in the core strategy of the UAE was that in order to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in UAE, foreign companies were required to pay little or no taxation, additionally, regulations governing foreign companies were relaxed. This created the conditions where foreign companies were encouraged to invest in Dubai, as a result huge buildings were built and many Western Companies now have massive investment in Dubai.
Although Dubai’s economy was built on the back of the oil industry, which developed rapidly after oil was first struck in the mid 1960s. Since then Dubai has developed a diverse economy. Oil revenues now only account for a small percentage of Dubai’s revenues. The city now has thriving manufacturing, finance, information technology and tourism sectors and is home to numerous multinational companies such as AT&T, General Motors, Heinz, IBM, Shell, and Sony. Figures published by the Dubai Development and Investment Authority show that Dubai’s GDP totalled $46 billion US in 2006.
As a result of Globalization, countries must compete against each other. As can be seen from the scrapping of the European Union’s Preferential Pricing for ACP Countries the developed world is become increasingly stingy to developing countries.
Therefore Guyana must compete for investment. To achieve this it is important that Guyana creates the right conditions for FDI. Perhaps if we adopt a strategy where we reduce taxation and regulation for local and foreign companies willing to invest in targeted sectors of Guyana we might be able to attract similar fortunes as Dubai and Singapore. Bold and innovative action is required.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Raghoo
