Shock and dismay
Today’s lesson (4) continues identifying the orders of magnitude of corruption-linked economic haemorrhage currently taking place in Guyana. Last week’s column had offered a best estimate of public procurement (G$140 billion) and procurement fraud (G$ 28-35billion) as calculated from estimates provided by none other than Guyana’s former Auditor General, in Part 11 of a series on public financial management (Stabroek News, April 13 2015). In order to signify the importance of corruption in public procurement it was compared to several economic indicators: GDP; total government revenues and expenditures; total investment; and, public investment.
Because of its criminal nature, several readers have expressed shock and dismay at its extent. Indeed some have rightly observed this fraud wipes out all the economic growth Guyana achieves in a good year, as it ranges from five to six percent of its GDP! Further, it accounted for 17 to 21 percent of projected government revenue and 13 to 16 percent of expenditure for 2014. In this regard readers should note that budget projections of government revenue and expenditure targets are typically well above that realized. The picture portrayed here is therefore, conservative.
The remainder of today’s column provides the orders of magnitude for two other areas of significant illegality and corruption in Guyana, which generate massive economic haemorrhaging; namely, illicit capital flight and the