Introduction
Let me admit upfront, I agree entirely with Ramesh Gampat’s headline statement as reported in his SN letter of October 26, 2015: `While Guyana’s data is too weak to be subjected to rigorous analysis it allows for broad trends’. It is precisely for that reason, I deliberately chose “trend-like” language such as, “anemic growth”, “low growth of less than 2 percent” and “Guyana sclerosis” to describe its stagnant long-term economic performance. However, apart from poor data quality and lack of timeliness, which he has correctly singled out, I believe, as I shall argue today and continue next week, that, data manipulation and deception by the Authorities (local and international), have been equally at fault in making Guyana’s national accounts data too weak for rigorous analysis.
GDP, growth and living standards
Because, as was demonstrated last week, Guyana’s GDP, (similar to other economies) is defined as the sum of all goods and services