President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Clinton Urling has said that the political administration and the majority parliamentary opposition must engage each other on the potential benefits of some of the projects that are affected by the cuts to this year’s budget with the aim of having supplemental provisions funded.
Such a move, he says, would represent “a more satisfying alternative to the political posturing that has become the norm since the budgetary removals were announced.”
In an article titled “Budget Review and Analysis” published in this issue of the Stabroek Business Urling says that as part of that process Finance Minister Ashni Singh should “make public his opinion as to if and how the budgetary cuts will revise original growth forecasts and what those updated projections will be.” The GCCI President says that such “transparency” on the minister’s part will be helpful to both the public and private sectors as they continue to fine tune their own economic plans for the remainder of 2012.
According to Urling, the budget cuts effected by the parliamentary opposition has left “in limbo” approximately $18.4 bilion for various economic and social development programmes including the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), institutional strengthening initiatives for the advancement of small business development and pressing ahead with the Amaila Falls project, Amerindian Land Titling, Amerindian Development Fund, the Cunha Canal rehabilitation, and the hinterland electrification project.
Meanwhile, Urling has cautioned against what he describes as reliance on the marketing of “primary goods” as a means of taking the country’s economy forwar.
“We cannot afford to become complacent and rely too heavily upon these primary goods sectors as the basis for our principal strategy in extending our streak of economic growth.
Such excessive reliance could leave us exposed and starkly vulnerable to volatile external price shocks and fluctuations in these sectors,” the chamber president said.
Accordingly, Urling is calling for investment in and diversification into other sectors, particularly the manufacturing and services sectors.
“As a starting point, we must have more engaged conversations that address lifting the constraints inhibiting the manufacturing sector as well as implementing wider measures to make Guyana’s services industry more globally competitive,” Urling added.
