Representatives of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) on Monday August 26th met with Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman in what has now become a protracted exchange aimed at resolving what the GMSA says are a number of matters concerning the country’s forestry and wood processing sectors.
Stabroek Business understands that the meeting between the Minister and a GMSA team led by its President, Clinton Williams enabled exchanges on a number of previously ventilated issues, not least difficulties which the GMSA says its members in the sector are experiencing in reclaiming refunds on value–added and what loggers say is the failure of government to provide adequate roads and other infrastructure associated with the efficient operation of the logging industry.
At the beginning of 2018, forestry products including furniture, lumber and logs were moved from zero-rated to exempt, a circumstance which the GMSA says prevented local manufacturers of wood products from claiming VAT refunds on inputs used for manufacturing . The GMSA says that it has been seeking to engage the Natural Resources Minister on the issue of considering appropriate mechanisms for the non-application of VAT on inputs for production and manufacturing in order to allow for competitive advantage in the exportation of value-added products. In this regard the GMSA is contending that up until now it has still not been able to access the fiscal incentives offered by the Guyana Office for Investment.
The August 26th meeting, the GMSA says, ought, in part, to secure the support of the Minister in obtaining those incentives which it says, will allow for equal opportunities for the manufacturing and wood sectors.
