The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at a press conference on Monday declared its satisfaction with the progress of the “Donald Ramotar Administration in terms of economic growth and development despite a harsh global environment and a less than supportive domestic environment.”
The Party said that the improved economic growth is reflected in “the growing prosperity among all strata of the Guyanese society.” It used ownership of homes, motor vehicles and other consumer items as indicators of prosperity.
It maintained that public servants have benefited from salary increases on an annual basis which are larger than the rate of inflation resulting in a bigger and bigger basket of goods and services.
The PPP commended the government “more particularly the Ministry of Finance for its good stewardship of the economy and for ensuring that the fundamentals of the economy are maintained.”
It observed that “macroeconomic stability, stable exchange rates, low inflation rates, strong foreign exchange reserves and low interest rates were indicative of fiscal discipline and sound monetary policies on the part of the administration.”
According to the Party, one indicator of a country’s economic health was the buoyancy of the banking and business sectors and said that both have shown impressive growth and expansion.
It said that foreign direct investments in the economy as well as local investment have increased over the past years and indicates growing confidence in the economy.
It said that the economy has recorded growth rates of close to five per cent at a time when other economies in the region were reeling under the impact of an economic downturn that resulted from the global economic and financial crisis.
The Party said, “While we are doing this our neighbouring Barbados Government will lay off 3000 public servants. Our economy is growing, old age pension has increased, subsidies for water and electricity are given to pensioners, free school uniform for children and increase in public assistance, while at the same time the opposition is using their one seat majority to cut funding for these programmes.”
While there has been a marked increase in the productive capacity of the economy with rice production reaching record levels and the mining sector performing well overtaking sugar as the largest foreign exchange earner of the economy, the Party took note of the failure of GuySuCo to yet again meet its production targets.
The PPP called on all stakeholders to redouble their efforts to turn the industry around. It observed that the sugar industry was still the largest employer and any further decline in sugar production could have disastrous effects on the livelihood and wellbeing of sugar workers and their families.
The PPP said, “What is even more laudable is the fact that the economy performed creditably despite a hostile parliamentary opposition which had been doing and continues to do everything possible to frustrate and destabilize the government’s development agenda by virtue of its one seat majority.”
