Take stock
The old year is over and a new one has just begun. Like any business, one has to take stock of the past activities before going forward into the new business year. For something as large as a country’s economy and without ready access to critical data that task becomes challenging early in the year. In the interest of time, it is best to perform the assessment one sector at a time. With gold production falling, public officials took to talking about the construction sector in late 2014. Leaders of the country have cited the presence of new buildings with different architecture as proof of economic progress in the country. The showcasing of these structures has been taking place in an apparent effort to convince Guyanese that the country is doing well and by inference they are doing well. Indeed, construction is a very important economic activity in any country and in Guyana’s case, construction has been responsible for an average of 10 per cent of output since 2006. An important part of this sector is building construction, especially for housing and business purposes.
Basic need
Housing is regarded as a basic need and many experts identify it as the single largest and most important investment of a family. An IMF article points out too that building construction plays key roles in an economy. Adequate housing could facilitate labour mobility and influence how households use their savings. At one point in time it was felt by business analysts that internet business transactions would lead to the disappearance of large quantities of the traditional bricks and mortar store. That has not happened and reminds one that neighbourhood shops and shopping malls serve as important social and economic meeting places. As a consequence, this article seeks to examine the impact that building construction has had on business investment and expansion in Guyana.
A good source of data is the 2012 preliminary census report. This report shows the changes in the building stock from 2002 to 2012. Those changes mean little unless placed in the context of investment and economic opportunity. The rate of the change offers an idea of how fast buildings are being erected in Guyana. Eight buildings per day, 265 per month and 3,181 per year is