Business

Wants government to move to take advantage of Caribbean Association of Roads The restoration of a national highway laboratory that infuses a higher level of geo-technical capability into road construction in Guyana is indispensable to the creation of a durable and cost-effective national road network according to one of Guyana’ leading civil engineers.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 343’s trading results showed consideration of $2,207,685 from 103,059 shares traded in 13 transactions as compared to session 342 which showed consideration of $2,097,113 from 53,994 shares traded in 7 transactions. 

…but Chintamani says tax reform should move forward this year Nearing a week after Finance Minister Ashni Singh delivered his 2010 budget presentation to the National Assembly the major private sector bodies are yet to make any significant public response.

–but miners believe government in ‘a bind’ The Government of Guyana is well aware that the enforcement of its proposed controversial notice period for the commencement of mining on any new concession “will effectively kill off a number of legitimate small mining operations” but is caught in a bind because of its commitments to higher environmental standards, a mining industry source told Stabroek Business earlier this week.

Business Editorial One of the arguments being made by developing countries in what has become an increasingly acrimonious global environmental debate has to do with the fact that while all countries, rich and poor alike, have had to pay the price for the various forms of environmental degradation that have afflicted the planet, the “returns” – in terms of enrichment and material development – from harmful emissions, deforestation and the various other forms of environmental delinquency have accrued overwhelmingly to developed countries.

By Jacquelyn Hamer I doubt that too many people would agree with the argument that marketing is by far the sternest challenge facing small businesses in Guyana today.

Crystal clear water is the desire of most people, but clear quality water, is what service providers in the water business strive desperately to give to consumers, but not many have a ‘natural advantage’.

Guyana is among a number of Caribbean Community (Caricom) territories that have secured approval for development-oriented projects by the recently established UK-funded Caribbean Aid For Trade and Regional Integration Trust Fund (CARTFund).

Last week’s signing of 2010 Junior Calypso Monarch Tennicia De Freitas to perform at this February 19th encore performance of Mori J’Von Comedy Jam 11 marks what Producer/Director Ron Morrison says is a bold attempt to build stronger bridges between business and the performing arts Although he accepts that the local business community is far too fragile to fully support the growth and development of the creative  arts, Ron Morrison believes that neither business nor the arts have sought sufficiently diligently to explore such opportunities as exist for a mutually beneficial relationship between the two. 

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 342’s trading results showed consideration of $2,097,113 from 53,994 shares traded in 7 transactions as compared to session 341 which showed consideration of $2,958,885 from 128,074 shares traded in 18 transactions. 

(Prepared by the Guyana marketing Corporation and published by Stabroek News Business as a public service)

Demonstration driven by fear of official moves to reduce small-scale mining activity Bartica this week handed the government of President Bharrat Jagdeo the first major non-political mass protest of its tenure as the community known as the gateway to the country’s mineral-rich interior shut itself down and took to the streets in a massive demonstration against new mining regulations which it fears will cripple much of the small and medium scale gold mining activity upon which the township depends for its economic existence.

Cites stable exchange rate, fiscal soundness Despite “poor sugar and rice harvests” which resulted in a significant contraction in the performance of Guyana’s   agricultural sector, the recently released report of the 2009 activities of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has cited Guyana as one of only a few Caribbean economies that demonstrated a measure of resilience in a year when a global financial crisis and economic recession resulted in a contraction in economic output in most regional economies.

(Extracted from Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report – 2009) The private sector plays a pivotal and expanding role in improving the well-being of societies, communities and individuals.

Chief Executive Officers of private sector entities in Guyana are usually not keen to speak publicly about what they perceive to be problems that impact negatively on the well being of their enterprises, particularly in cases where those problems are believed to be   remediable through government intervention.

By Rawle Lucas Rawle Lucas is a Guyanese-born Certified Public Accountant and Assistant Vice-President of the Lending Services Division.

The Private Sector Commis-sion (PSC) is currently engaging Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee in a bid to forestall moves to outlaw the commercial activities of itinerant music vendors who ply the streets pushing handcarts fitted with stereo equipment.

Will the 2009 nightmare push regional tourist destinations towards diversification? Even as the Caribbean’s tourism industry seeks to point to what it believes are early signs of a silver lining behind the dark clouds that settled over the sector for much of 2009, the body blow which the decline in tourist arrivals has dealt to the region raises once again the long-debated issue of the need for Caribbean   tourist havens to treat with the issue of economic diversification of their economies with a greater sense of urgency.