Dr Clive Thomas

When I began my last series of Sunday columns (September 2, 2012) on the topic ‘Revisiting the political economy of the Guyana sugar industry’, which I concluded last weekend  (December 23),  I did not anticipate it would take as many as 17 weekly columns for a reappraisal of the industry with recommendations for its reform.

Part 2 This week I shall conclude my discussion of the reform of Guyana’s sugar industry started on September 2, 2012.

Mature industry Framing the reform of GuySuCo and the sugar industry must necessarily start with an identification of the major dynamics driving both.

Introduction Last week’s column covered the strategic role of maintenance in GuySuCo’s efforts to modernize the sugar industry.

Three policies For much of the period of the 2000s (and indeed for most of the presentation in this series of columns on sugar) attention has been chiefly directed towards the failure of the Skeldon Sugar Modernization Project (SSMP).

Introduction Recently, while examining the archival material in my possession on GuySuCo, I came across three documents which I believe readers would find instructive at this stage of my consideration of the sugar industry.

Introduction In last week’s column I urged the point of view that, the most important performance indicator for GuySuCo during the period of the Turnaround Plan, which has elapsed so far (2009 to the first crop 2012), is its annual sugar production.

Introduction Guyanese are rightfully concerned that all major industries in the economy are performing well.

Introduction Last week’s discussion on sugar in the economy focused on those long-run performance indicators, which would aid an evaluation of the viability of GuySuCo.

Introduction Last week I argued the realisation of sufficient economies of scale for Guyana’s sugar industry to make it globally competitive is unlikely simply because these would not result in a substantial lowering of the long-term average cost of production at output levels of 450,000 tonnes.

Globalisation and Sugar Today’s truly fundamental defining feature of the condition of the Guyana sugar industry (and Guysuco more particularly), is that, several decades ago it became mature, and from all appearances since the 1960s, it has entered a long-run declining phase, as described in classic industrial and firm theories.

Introduction In last week’s column I presented a graph, which illustrated both the downward trend and the wide variations in sugar production for Guyana over the last half-century or so.

Indicator Perhaps the single most revealing performance indicator of the state of Guyana’s sugar industry is to be found in its annual production figures.

Introduction Communications I have received concerning last week’s column have all expressed indignation at the remarks, which were reportedly made by the European Union (EU) Ambassador when speaking about GuySuCo and the Guyana sugar industry. 

As I observed last week, with stunning condescension the European Union (EU) Ambassador, at the signing ceremony for the agreement on “EU budgetary support for Guyana’s ailing sugar industry” was reported in the press as remarking: “Sugar is the industry of the future.” 

Introduction Today I continue appraising the sugar industry (and GuySuCo) in view of the considerable European Union (EU) support and the further $4 billion transfer to GuySuCo from the National Budget 2012.

Introduction For the next few columns I shall assess the position of Guyana’s sugar industry in light of the billions of dollars the EU has committed in assistance under its Second Multi-annual Sugar Programme 2011 to 2013 (24.9 million euros or $6.5 billion) and the proposed Budget 2012 subsidy of $4 billion for the coming year.

Implementation deficits Caricom’s dilatoriness and implementation deficits (well documented by Prof Norman Girvan) have dramatized grave impediments standing in the way of forging a single market and economy. 

Introduction Starting with my column on April 1 this year, this is the twenty-first and concluding one in a series, which may be broadly described as an appraisal of the political economy of the National Budget, 2012.

Part 7 Introduction Under the miscellaneous category of economic-structural challenges and threats to macroeconomic stability over the near to medium-term, last week I considered those posed by three “crime-driven sectors,” for want of a better of label.