President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Rafeek Khan has told the Stabroek Business that the envisaged gas to shore project, part of the wider envisaged maximizing of the country’s oil and gas resources could represent a game-changing breakthrough for the country’s manufacturing sector, reaching to the very heart of one of the key issues that have affected manufacturing in Guyana.
“The challenge for local manufacturing has always been the high cost of energy. The gas to shore project, once completed, will significantly reduce energy costs for our local manufacturers which can have an uptake in the sector,” Khan told the Stabroek Business recently. The full text of the interview will be published in the Stabroek Business’ sister publication, The Guyana Review, later in January. Meanwhile, Khan said in response to a question posed by the Stabroek Business that what the Association sees as the country’s “high corporate tax rate of 45% (compared with 25% in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago)” should be ‘re-evaluated’ in order to “encourage growth of the manufacturing sector.”