The government yesterday dismissed the private sector’s concerns about its management of the economy, while accusing the Private Sector Commission (PSC) of joining the opposition in resisting changes to improve the investment and business environment.
“The Government of Guyana deems it rather shameful that the PSC has allowed itself to be used as a political stool pigeon to repeat the propagandistic chatter of the opposition and to seek to undermine confidence in our economy and good governance,” the government said yesterday in a strongly-worded statement issued by Director of Public Information Imran Khan.
The rebuke was in response to a PSC statement, issued on the previous day, in which it said that its affiliates at a meeting on Monday voiced concern over what they called a decline of the economy.
“Among the concerns are the crippling new taxes for the mining sector and the institution of Value Added Tax on necessities. The members of the business community present expressed a lack of confidence in the manner the Government is managing the economy. This is reflected in the flight of capital from Guyana and the lack of significant new investments in the last 2 years. Real estate values are dwindling, property for sale inventory is on the rise and wealth is eroding rapidly. We would like to see Government create the enabling environment and engage the business community much more so that together we can facilitate the creation of employment opportunities, have wage growth and put in measures to increase wealth of all Guyanese,” the PSC had declared, while adding that Guyana cannot continue to improve and sustain growth if investors’ confidence continues to be eroded. “The trajectory in which the country is heading at the moment does not inspire such confidence,” it added.
With the PSC’s declaration coinciding with Guy-ana’s hosting of the 28th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Caricom Heads of Government Conference, the government yesterday dubbed it a “thinly veiled attempt” to embarrass and discredit the APNU+AFC administration and accused the organisation of yielding to “its political handlers” by issuing the criticism.
According to the government, the PSC has further eroded its credibility as an independent private sector umbrella body for having remained silent during protracted periods of violent crime sprees, the descent of Guyana into a narco-economy and obscene levels of corruption under the former discredited and corrupt government, with which several of its leaders were and continue to be associated.
It said the PSC would not even grudgingly admit that since the change of government in 2015, Guyana has embarked on a challenging task of restoring confidence in governance and repairing the country’s tattered international image.
It noted that based on the 2017 Index of Econo-mic Freedom, Guyana is climbing the ladder of credibility for reducing corruption and protecting the integrity of the nation in all areas of governance. Guyana has gained 3.1 points to move to 58.5 points and is now at 106, ideally positioned to break into the top 100, it said.
Additionally, the government noted that Guyana has moved up 16 places to 124th on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index and it said this represents a significant improvement from 2015 to 2016, yet there has been no acknowledgement by the PSC.
Also, it pointed to Guy-ana gaining an unprecedented 5 points, moving from 29 in 2015 to 34 in 2016, on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. It said it is noteworthy that in the last year of the PPP/C administration, Guyana’s score fell from 30 to 29 between 2014 and 2015, yet the PSC was silent.
“It is pathetic that the PSC has mounted the bandwagon of negative forces that are determined to resist legal and structural changes that are aimed at improving the investment and business environment in Guyana as we continue to show positive signs of development and progress,” the government statement added.
