Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin is in denial about Guyana not being in an economic crisis.
According to Jagdeo, the minister has based his argument on the crisis taking place in neighbouring countries.
The opposition leader made the comments at the PPP’s weekly parliamentary press briefing held at Freedom House yesterday. Last week, while acknowledging that there has been a slight downturn in business, due primarily to falling commodity prices and unemployment, Gaskin insisted that Guyana’s economy is not in crisis and said that government has a long-term plan for development.
He had pointed to positive indicators for Guyana, among them, continued positive growth rate, unlike neighbouring economies such as Brazil, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago which are in serious trouble and even crisis, to emphasise that the country is not in a crisis.
Jagdeo yesterday accused the government of ineptitude saying the David Granger administration does not know where it is going after a year in office. According to him, the signals being sent would prevent people from coming and invest here. He said that since his last press conference, he has seen some very important positions taken by the government.
He was critical of the positions. According to the opposition leader, on the face of it, these positions seem to advance national interest but they are harmful to the future of the country. He did not explain how the harm would be caused but said it bothers him a lot that “they seem to have sold out the interest of Guyana to international bodies.”
Jagdeo said that government is bringing in a World Bank consultant to establish a multi-stakeholders forum and questioned the need to do that. He expressed worry that the Ministry of Natural Resources is being run either on autopilot or the minister does not understand the technical nature of the issues he is dealing with. According to Jagdeo, the foreign consultants would have their own agenda which does not always coincide with the national interest of the country.
