The 2010-2011 Annual Report for the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) has highlights “accelerated growth” in investments in the mining, energy, services, tourism and wood products sectors and the role it has played in facilitating those investments.
In its assessment of the state of the mining sector, the report says that during 2010, 16 mining projects were registered with Go-Invest at a total investment value of $3.8 billion. “The mining portfolio of projects held the potential for creating 137 new jobs compared with the 91 jobs expected from 27 projects registered in the previous year,” the report says, though it concedes that “the number of new projects declined from 24 in the previous year (2009) to 11 in 2010.”
Meanwhile, the report says that 12 of the mining projects registered in 2010 represented foreign direct investment with two of these involving overseas-based Guyanese.
According to the Go-Invest annual report, 6 projects valued at “a little more than $1.4 billion” were registered in the mining sector last year with the overall portfolio creating 152 new jobs; an increase of 15 from the previous year. However, the number of new projects again declined from the 11 registered in the previous year. All of the projects facilitated in the mining sector by Go-Invest last year were through foreign direct investment with 5 of them being newly established businesses and the remainder being expansions of pre-existing businesses.
Overall, the report says that during the reporting period the mining sector moved into a recapitalization mode “as investors respond to favourable prices in the global gold and precious metals market” with the number of operational dredges increasing significantly in 2010. The report adds that both domestic and international investors have been responsive to the market conditions in the sector and that this is reflected in the increase in bank credit which it attracted in 2010.
The report says that in addition to the gold market, prospects in the diamond, bauxite and quarry stone sub-sectors have also been positive. According to Go-Invest, gold accounts for 75 per cent of the overall value of the mining sector’s output and accounts for 7 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Overall, mining contributes 9 per cent of GDP.
Meanwhile, the Go-Invest two-year report says that in 2010 investors brought 4 new energy projects to the facilitation entity with the value of the investments totalling $10 billion, an increase on the $693 million invested in the previous year. The report says that the potential for job creation in the energy sector reached 82 compared with 11 in the previous year on account of investments. Five of the new investments in 2010 resulted from foreign direct investment with just one being a local investor.
The Go-Invest report says that last year saw a “turnaround” in new projects with the number of such projects increasing to 14 with a total investment value of $10.58 billion, an increase of $559 million from 2010. Last year, 117 new jobs were created in the sector.
Go-Invest’s report also paints an upbeat picture of the investment portfolio in the country’s tourism industry, noting that in 2010 the organization facilitated 57 projects with a total investment value of $1.6 billion. These, according to the report, included 40 new projects, 23 of which were located in Region Four and 13 in Region Nine. Forty of the projects which came on stream in 2010 resulted from local investments. Twenty-three of the investments were supported through investment agreements.
By comparison, Go-Invest reports that last year the organization facilitated 24 tourism projects valued at $7.5 billion including 40 new projects. “Another positive outcome for the tourism sector revolved around the amount of jobs which were created in 2010,” according to the report this reached 190. Last year saw what the report describes as “a huge increase” in the amount of jobs created in the sector with the overall amount of new jobs reaching 902.
Meanwhile, according to the Go-Invest report, 69 wood products-related projects valued at $2.5 billion and representing 428 new potential jobs were registered with the organization in 2010, “of which 30 had rolled over from 2009 and the remainder (39) were new projects.” The report says that last year Go-Invest facilitated a further 43 projects valued at $3.9 billion with the potential to provide 643 jobs. Most of the projects in both years represented local investments.
