High electricity costs, inadequate incentives for manufacturers investing in new technology and lack of access to investment funding and trade financing are among the obstacles to the growth of Guyana’s manufacturing and services sector, according to President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Clinton Williams.
Delivering his report at the GMSA’s Annual Presentation of Awards and Dinner at the Princess Hotel, on November 25, Williams itemized a range of “pertinent issues” that had to be addressed in order to ensure the development of the manufacturing sector in Guyana.
In drawing attention to the impact of costly and unreliable power supply on the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, Williams echoed a concern that has been stated repeatedly by representatives of the local business community. Government officials, including Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, have also commented on the need for Guyana to realize less costly electricity and a more reliable supply if the manufacturing sector is to become more competitive. Speaking for the agro-processing sector, Persaud told Stabroek Business a few weeks ago that the cost of electricity locally had become sufficiently prohibitive to have raw agricultural produce sent to Trinidad and Tobago for processing then shipped back to Guyana.
Local manufacturers, particularly those operating small and medium-sized enterprises
have also expressed concern over lack of access to investment funding. Recently, local commercial banks have responded to this concern by creating modest lending facilities for small business ventures though sections of the business community continue to express the view that more needs to be done to assist entrepreneurs wishing both to start up new business ventures and to expand existing ones. Among the other reasons cited by Williams for the slow growth of the manufacturing sector were: the “inefficiency” of “the Guyana Revenue Authority and other regulatory agencies” and ineffective enforcement of existing copyright, anti-smuggling and tax evasion laws. On the latter point, he called on government to invest in “remote-sensing technology” to improve the monitoring of national borders and smuggling routes “to reduce the hemorrhaging of profit by local manufacturers caused by unfair competition.” Additionally, he said that the longer-term strategy may be to increase the number of persons employed in this area. He also calling for the creation of parastatal agencies to serve as “one stop shops for services needed for establishing new businesses.”
Meanwhile, Williams disclosed that the GMSA is preparing local entrepreneurs to initiate contact with Chinese investors in order to enable face to face engagements at the forthcoming Third China/Caribbean Business Forum, scheduled for Trinidad and Tobago next year. The disclosure comes in the wake of the growing Chinese presence in the urban commercial trading sector and the disclosure last week by President Bharrat Jagdeo that Chinese nationals who have resided in Guyana for seven years will become eligible for citizenship.
