Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin is confident that upon conclusion of the implementation of his ministry’s Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 Guyana would see significant economic development.
The plan was launched yesterday at Cara Lodge, in the presence of the media and several agencies and heads of departments and a summarized version was presented by economist at the Ministry of Business (MoB), Nichole Haynes.
According to the plan, “The business environment is a crucial factor in country competitiveness levels.”
It said that the lack of adequate infrastructure (particularly access and cost of electricity, and logistics), access to finance, the level and complexity of tax rates and the skills gap in the labour market are some of the biggest constraints to doing business in Guyana.
During the consultation process for this plan, the private sector confirmed the need for improvement, particularly in those areas.
It was also found that productivity enhancing reforms, an improved business environment and an increase in private investment are required in order to jump start growth and to provide economic opportunities for all Guyanese.
The MoB, as the link between the public and private sector, plays a crucial role in these efforts and is “therefore committed to establish the formal institutional mechanisms that foster dialogue and that allow for jointly defining priorities to transform the economy into an easy place to do business and to enhance Guyana´s competitiveness.”
The plan stated too that the ministry aims to implement four key strategies in working towards its vision of “increasing the living standards for all Guyanese in a diverse and green economy.”
It would also help to accomplish its mission of “creating a business environment that fosters innovation, competitiveness, growth and diverse employment opportunities by improving the ease of doing business, attracting sustainable investment, promoting value-added exports and enhancing workforce skills through policymaking, advocacy and cooperation with the private sector.”
The plan also stated that “enhancing Guyana´s attractiveness to private investment (requires) upgraded local infrastructure,” through “reliable and price-competitive access to energy, new roads and modern airports and ports.”
Minister Gaskin told the media when asked, that “almost everything in the plan is geared towards improving the economic performance, the business environment and competitiveness, creating investment, promotion strategy and value-added export strategy in small business development.”
He expressed gratitude to Shabnam Mallick, Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and team “for providing invaluable assistance, starting from the first public consultation in August last year.”
The contributions, comments and suggestions from UNDP, he said, resulted in them taking a different approach to the plan.
He said too that through consultations, the various inputs were compiled in a very logical and understandable strategic plan.
He said he shared the plan with “the media in the hope that it can give some context and understanding to inform the public” about his ministry.
He believes that “transparency and accountability are important elements of good governance and we believe that it also increases confidence in our economy and that is why we are sharing with you our strategic plan to which you can hold us accountable.”
Mallick remarked that the strategic plan commenced with “brainstorming as to how best can we assist” and with the arrival of the Consultant in early 2016.
According to her, “As the MoB Strategic Plan mentions, productivity enhancing reforms, an improved business environment and an increase in private investment are required in order to jump start growth and to provide economic opportunities for all Guyanese, in an economy that follows the precepts of ‘green development.”
She pointed out that creating the plan was a challenging task, but said “nothing can be as challenging as creating a successful business. I hope that this plan will create the enabling conditions for creating many successful businesses.”
