Business

In June 2007 Stabroek Business was informed by Brazilian Ambassador to Guyana His Excellency Arthur Meyer that the bridge across the Takutu river would be completed in January 2008.

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Vinu Sawh’s bespectacled face and piercing eyes give him the appearance of a ‘bookish’ university undergraduate who spends most of his time detached from the people around him.

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Plagued by the persistent theft of its insulated copper cable that serves as the vehicle for taking telephone services to consumers and having failed to bring a halt to the practice through the intervention of either the police or its own internal security force, the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) has disclosed that it will now be turning to the consuming public in an effort to rein in the copper thieves.

The Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) faces a crisis of what appears to be huge proportions.

Sections of the business community may approach government in an effort to discuss ways of mitigating the effects of continually rising energy costs on the local productive sector in the wake of the recently announced increases in electricity charges.

Executive Director of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) Maureen Paul has said that while she believes that there are competent persons serving on the various committees set up to plan the August 2008 Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) scheduled to be held in Guyana the challenge lies in the country’s “in-house capacity to provide a product to the level that will be expected of the largest cultural event of the region”.

The accelerated promotion of Guyana’s nature-based tourism product is the focus of the recently released 2008 issue of Explore Guyana, the country’s official Tourist Guide.

There will continue to be debate regarding the growth experienced by the Guyanese economy in 2007.

Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

Guyana’s tourism sector must move towards a more “holistic orientation” in 2008 if there is to be any significant qualitative improvement in the country’s tourism product, according to Executive Director of the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) Maureen Paul.

The amount of money owing to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) in employee contributions has now exceeded the $500M mark and a senior NIS official has told Stabroek Business that the Scheme is making “little headway’ in collecting the amounts due to it through the Magistrate’s Courts.

Traditional ‘late shopping’ took on a new dimension this Christmas as hundreds of urban shoppers poured into the city on Christmas Day to conclude what the business community says was, up until Christmas Eve day, a lacklustre commercial season.

The Main Big Lime has now established itself as a kind of seasonal institution – an integral part of the Christmas calendar.

One of the notable features of the private sector during 2007 was its virtual silence on issues concerning the business sector and the economy as a whole.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is implementing the manifest module of TRIPS as part of its continued effort to improve clearance times for goods imported while ensuring transparency.

A city businessman has told Stabroek Business that what was offered at this year’s Boxing Day Main Big Lime was “less than what might have been expected” given the tremendous public support which the event received.

Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone N