Dear Editor,
At the conclusion of Guyana’s National Budget 2023, a major debate erupted over the pros and cons of the fiscal budget. Rightness argues that we need a budget in the name of future generations. Now is the time to launch major medium- and long-term public investments to drive job creation and create new investment opportunities for industrial sectors that remain crucial for Guyana’s development. We must address building new urban and enter-region transportation systems; invest in energy conservation; dramatically expand low-carbon based energy sources; expand basic public services such as childcare and elder care; and invest much more in public education at all levels as in workers’ skill.
We know that all of these investments, especially those in public services and energy efficiency, are labour intensive and create many more jobs than increased consumer spending, and simultaneously promote our environmental, community development, and social justice goals. What we need is a period of public investment-led growth to drive the whole economy. Public infrastructure and public services are key drivers of private sector productivity, public sector investment by private sector suppliers. This relatively modest growth strategy might seem first-best to establishing Guyana’s best modern industrial economy. Given the emerging constraints on global demand, however, it is more likely to succeed in laying the basis for sustained growth than a classical export-oriented industrial strategy.
Sincerely,
Sherwood Clarke
General Secretary
CCWU
