Studies have revealed that more than half of the economy was previously controlled by illegal activity, according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
Jordan was at the time responding to a question at a press conference on Monday about what statistical evidence existed to show that the narcotics trade had contributed significantly to economic activity in the past.
Jordan, during a recent Government Information Agency (GINA) interview, had said Guyana is currently experiencing a reduction in free spending due to a decrease in illegal activities, including narco-trafficking, which had created a parallel economy.
The minister told reporters on Monday that many studies have been done on Guyana, including at least two by Professor Clive Thomas.
He said that the studies done by Thomas show that when you “look at the monetary data relative to what is going on in the economy, he estimated as much as 52 percent of this economy had been controlled by …backtracking, drug trafficking and all the different non-formal activities.”
Meanwhile, Bank of Guyana Governor Dr. Gobind Ganga, who was present, said that no official figures have been seen but estimates are done. He said that sometimes one can glean information from the balance of payments. “So you know you can come to an estimate of the informal sector but you don’t have it precise,” he noted.
