President Bharrat Jagdeo recently informed the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) while chairing a meeting of that body that negotiations with the incumbent telecommunications operator, Guyana Telephone & Telegraph company, will be commencing on Tuesday.
Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh will be leading the government’s negotiating team, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported. All NCC members reiterated their support for liberalisation of the telecommunications industry, GINA added.
Credit bureau
And at the NCC meeting, the finance minister outlined progress on the establishment of a credit bureau in Guyana. Dr Singh informed the council that this work is being led by the Bank of Guyana, with the full involvement of the Bankers’ Association and the major banks.
It will take approximately 18 months to provide the appropriate legal and regulatory framework for the bureau, as well as roll out the technology and procedures required for its operation.
The bureau, GINA said, will operate on similar lines to those already being implemented in other Caricom countries, and will lead to less expensive finance for borrowers in Guyana.
Meanwhile, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Trade and Investment Sub-Committee updated NCC members on work that had been done to identify all the steps required to register a new business, and spoke of how the business community and government agencies are collaborating to devise a booklet setting this out in detail for those wishing to register as a business. The booklet will be made widely available.
GINA further stated that parallel with this, the Support for Competitiveness programme has commenced work to modernise the Deeds Registry, which will lead to the more efficient processing of new business registration.
The subject of tax reform was another of the issues discussed and the Coordinator of the Support for Competitive-ness Programme updated members on work to start a major study of the taxation and incentives system. Consultants will start work within the next two months, and will deliver a set of recommendations before the year end.
President Jagdeo and the Chairman of Go-Invest informed council members that alongside this initiative, work has started to streamline Go-Invest’s processes with the aim of improving efficiency and predictability in the conclusion of investment agreements.
Council members were also informed that comprehensive studies aimed at streamlining bureaucratic procedures facing exporters were expected to commence within the next two months.
GINA also reported that President Jagdeo announced that work has started to develop a new marketing strategy to raise Guyana’s profile among investors abroad. Marketing-related recommendations that had been developed by the Competitiveness Advisory Team (a support body to the NCC) will feed in to the strategy.
Jagdeo told council members, according to GINA, that a major investment conference will be held in Guyana later this year, and this is the target milestone for the development of a wide series of marketing assets, such as detailed investment directories for the investment opportunities within the country. This will be the first of several major events, targeting substantial increases in foreign direct investment, GINA added.
Energy
Meantime, the private sector’s representatives highlighted the challenges faced by businesses as a result of the current high price of oil, and indicated that they were keen on working closely with government to resolve problems relating to energy.
With this in mind, the President asked Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to establish and chair a new public/private body that would systematically address issues relating to energy. In the short-term this body would address issues such as the technical and commercial losses being experienced by GPL, and in the long-term it would focus on strategic initiatives to develop alternative energy sources.
The NCC is Guyana’s highest level body for dialogue between the government, the business community and organised labour.
At the recent meeting, council members discussed progress on priority actions to improve Guyana’s ability to increase investment, exports, employment and growth, as set out in the National Competitiveness Strategy. The meeting also reviewed progress on issues that were initially addressed at the last meeting of the National Competitiveness Council in September 2007.
Among these issues were the expansion of shipping capacity to cater for the growing needs of exporters; providing targeted assistance to small businesses, and operationalising the Small Business Act; improving access by businesses to finance at affordable interest rates; and streamlining the process of registering new businesses.
Other matters included liberalizing the telecommunications sector to improve the quality and reduce the price of telecommunications services, as well as facilitating rapid employment growth in the ICT-enabled services sector.
Progress reports also focused on such issues as improving corporate governance; reforming the tax system to boost investment while providing the government with sufficient revenue to implement its policy objectives; improving the efficiency of the Customs administration, as well as the marketing of Guyana as an investment destination.
According to GINA, members also considered three new issues: the impact that oil price increases and GPL’s issues are having on the competitiveness of businesses; the potential for economic growth as a result of greater integration with Brazil; and the need to provide support for workers to assist them in identifying how labour can play an active role in improving Guyana’s competitiveness.
And representatives of shipping and exporting companies outlined the problems they face with exporters expressing concern that the current shipping capacity at Port Georgetown is insufficient for the projected growth of exports in 2008.
Jagdeo asked the representatives to give urgent priority to providing an estimate of what it would cost to increase the supply of containers in order to cater for the expected increase in exports in coming years. He said once these estimates are available, he will chair a meeting of the shippers and exporters to review proposals on how the government and the shipping companies can work together to ensure that there are no bottlenecks for exporters from Port Georgetown.
Small Business
The Chairman of the Small Business Council made a presentation on the support it requires to allow it to lead the full implementation of the Small Business Act. Following this, Jagdeo instructed that the National Competitiveness Strategy Unit provide resources for the Small Business Council to produce a detailed submission on financial requirements to fully operationalise the Small Business Act.
It was emphasised that urgent assistance was needed for small businesses across Guyana to regularise their operations, in order that they can create a better foundation for future growth.
PSC representatives updated the Council on the work they have been doing to develop a Code of Good Corporate Governance for Guyana, as well as identifying any updates that are required to the legislation that covers this important area.
The Securities Act Council members acknowledged the importance of good corporate governance in safe-guarding the interests of shareholders and workers and the President instructed the National Competitiveness Strategy Unit to provide support to engage a world-class expert in corporate governance to make recommendations to ensure that Guyana’s code is of the highest possible standards.
Guyana-Brazil economic integration
Improved economic links between Guyana and Brazil have the potential to significantly aid Guyana in achieving the overall objectives of the National Competitiveness Strategy (i.e. more growth, exports, investment and employ
ment), GINA reported. The Prime Minister agreed to prioritise work to further Guyana-Brazil integration via a new Infrastructure Public-Private Dialogue body.
Meanwhile, the Association of Regional Chambers of Commerce’s representative outlined three major issues that are being experienced at the border with Brazil, chief of which is the continued lack of Customs officials on the Brazilian side of the Takutu River. This is impacting on the flow of exports from Lethem. In that light, Jagdeo asked the representative of ARCC to submit more details on the three issues. The President said that they would be addressed through diplomatic avenues if necessary.
The representatives of organised labour emphasised the importance of developing a social partnership between workers, employers and government and of undertaking a promotion campaign in order to encourage a shared understanding of the key role that Guyana’s labour community places in making Guyana’s industries more competitive. Jagdeo said that in principle he supported such an initiative and the NCC members representing the organised labour community agreed to develop a more detailed proposal on how precisely this should be done.
Presidential Advisor Kevin Hogan will continue to lead ongoing monitoring activities regarding agreements reached at the NCC meeting. The next full meeting of the council will be within the next four months.
Attending the NCC meeting on behalf of the government were the President, Prime Minister Hinds, the Minister of Finance, Minister of Tourism, Industry & Commerce, Manniram Prashad, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud and the Chief Executive Officer of GO-Invest, Geoffrey Da Silva.
Representing the private sector and organised labour were Michael Correia, Chair of the Private Sector Commission, Ramesh Dookhoo, Chair of the Private Sector Commission’s Trade and Investment Sub-Committee, Daniel Gajie, President of the Association of Regional Chambers of Commerce, Patrick Zephyr of the Small Business Council and Carvil Duncan of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana.
The council also welcomed new member, Gillian Burton, representing the Guyana Trades Union Congress.
Supporting the Council were Presidential Advisor Hogan, Head of the Support for Competitiveness Programme, Merlin Udho, and Senior Economist, National Competitiveness Strategy Unit, Anna Morris.
