With government and the opposition making little progress in reaching consensus on national issues, Private Sector Commission (PSC) Chairman Ramesh Persaud yesterday said the prevailing disadvantages of the current political dispensation are “poisonous” to the growth of businesses and the economy.
“The Private Sector has concluded that the current political dispensation where there exists a minority government with a majority opposition in parliament is the sole reason for the non-support of the [anti-money laundering] legislation and rejection of many other developmental and transformational projects that the private sector supported and endorsed,” PSC Chairman Ramesh Persaud told the PSC Annual General Meeting at the Pegasus Hotel.
“The PSC is of the view that under the current political dispensation, a spirit of compromise and negotiation… needed to exist to achieve consensus on major national issues. We are disappointed that no adequate progress has been made in establishing win-win situations on many of the national issues by both the government and the opposition. The current political dispensation has its advantages but currently its disadvantages are more prevalent and this is poisonous to the growth of private businesses, job creation and our economy,” he added.
Persaud said that the private sector is calling on the leadership of Guyana to seriously consider this fact and work towards reversing this situation.
Persaud, while detailing the work of the PSC over the last year, noted that it raised its voice on several occasions and supported the need for early local government elections—a call that he said is still very much relevant today as many of the services provided to the private sector by the local democratic organs are below the standards expected to promote competitiveness and the ease of doing business.
President Donald Ramotar, who was among those in attendance at the meeting, said that he will not be bullied into calling local elections. He also said that if the opposition wanted to move a no confidence motion against his government, it was ready.
The president also criticized the PSC for staying silent on a range of issues and he accused the body of not “calling a spade a spade when they should.”
Past Chairman of the PSC Ramesh Dookhoo, in remarks, later said that with the vibe coming from politicians that battle lines are drawn, the PSC, too, was ready for any decision.
Meanwhile, Persaud also announced that the PSC has welcomed the Caribbean Development Bank’s recent endorsement of Guyana’s quest to exploit its hydropower potential, since low cost energy was vital to development.
“On behalf of the private sector we would like to acknowledge publicly that we agree fully with the sentiments expressed by Dr. [Warren] Smith and we call on the leaders of Guyana both in government and the opposition to work on realising our hydro power potential, whether it is Amaila Falls or any other source,” Persaud said.
In his opening remarks at the 44th Board of Governors Meeting held here recently, bank president Dr. Smith had sounded a call for the region to adopt a unified approach in reducing its high energy cost, saying it remains the main obstacle to the competitiveness that is needed for sustainable economic growth.
Ramotar, during his remarks yesterday, informed that while government was ready to resume negotiations with the two initial investors, it would not wait indefinitely as other groups have expressed interest. “We are still open and ready to go with Blackstone and Sithe Global but we are not going to wait forever because we have other options,” Ramotar stated.
“Cheap energy is indispensable for our social and economic development. That is why I am determined that we must push ahead to make the Amaila project a reality,” he added.
Highlighting work done by the organisation in 2013, Persaud informed that it had made representations to the Minister of Finance during his 2013 budget consultations with regards to the reduction in personal income tax and personal property tax and increased government expenditure in specific infrastructure, including hinterland airstrips and a new Demerara River crossing.
He said too that the PSC was elated when the Minister of Finance subsequently announced the lowering of the personal income tax rate from 33 1/3% to 30%, the increase in the ceiling for personal property tax and the introduction of Mortgage Interest Relief for home owners with Loans of $30M and less. “This has significantly benefited our employees. The government also allocated $248M for maintenance and rehabilitation of hinterland airstrips and has started the process of establishing a public-private partnership for a new Demerara River crossing,” he said.
The PSC also lobbied its members to speedily accept the new national minimum wage ordinance when it was announced in 2013.
As a major partner with the government to implement the National Competitiveness Strategy, Persaud said the PSC, through the National Competitiveness Steering Committee, addressed a series of action items ranging from establishing a single window automated processing system to the development of Port Georgetown, among others.
He said too that the PSC continued to be represented on the Multi Stakeholder Steering Committee which is charged with the transitioning of the country to a green economy, in keeping with the tenets of the Low Carbon Development Strategy.
It is also actively involved in the National Working Group which is responsible for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The Chairman pointed out that the PSC has representatives working along with several faculties of the University of Guyana, the Board of Industrial Training and the Council for Technical and Vocational Training.
