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FM
Former Member

Govt taking steps to reverse economic slowdown

 

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon said that the government is taking every step to ensure that economic activities are revitalised, and that money continues to flow into the economy.

The Minister was at the time addressing the media at a post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency today, on how the government is moving to treat with the reports of the country’s economy slow-down, and talks by some sections of the business community of laying-off some of their workers.

Minister Harmon, in responding said that these reports have been made and in fact have been taken very seriously by Cabinet. He explained that due to these reports, President David Granger has on at least three recent occasions summoned some of the key sector ministers including Finance, Agriculture, Business and Natural Resources to look at options on how to address the slow-down.

Further the minister said that in responding to the slow-down, the government is moving to “pump huge sums of money into the economy” that would generate employment and economic activities.

He noted the $5 Billion that the government will be pouring into the housing sector for the delivery and construction of 758 housing units in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10. The money for the construction of these units is projected to have a ripple effect across the economy. It is expected to create employment opportunities for thousands, and increase the demand for construction material.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.

Minister Harmon assured that, “The economy is always on the forefront of our considerations, not only in the Cabinet but in all of our government undertakings. The impact that the economy has on the people of this country is something which we are very careful about dealing with.”

Minister Harmon did however, point out that the economic slow-down in the country has to be taken in conjunction with economic reality of the neighbouring countries such as Suriname, Brazil, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago which are in deep recession, due to falling oil prices and other economic crises.

“These economic (realities) are not strange, people are reading, they are on the internet and they understand what is going on internationally,” he said. “We are doing our best to ensure that we do not have to go down the road, where some of these countries have gone,” he added.

Guyana has been dependent on traditional export products and, as a result, the economy has suffered as bauxite, gold, sugar and rice prices have fallen. The picture is also particularly gloomy for its neighbours, Brazil, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Brazilian economy has been experiencing an economic recession since early 2014 which has continued into 2017. Meanwhile, Venezuela is suffering the worst economic crisis in its history. Ordinary people in this oil-rich country are regularly going without food and three-quarter empty supermarkets are being ransacked by angry, hungry mobs. Trinidad and Tobago has also been experiencing sluggish growth against a backdrop of lower global oil prices, a reduction in local energy production

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Jagdeo slams ‘sailors’ at Finance Ministry.

 

– accuses some senior staffers of being ‘at sea’ and ‘sailing’

Many of the economic woes facing Guyana are mainly owed to the incompetence and ignorance of some senior staff at the Finance Ministry, including subject Minister Winston Jordan.

 

 

This blunt observation was made by former President Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference held on Tuesday.

Jagdeo, a Moscow-trained economist, contends that many of the explanations given by Jordan and his staff about the economy are irrelevant and do not address the concerns facing the people.

“They are at sea at that ministry…at the Ministry of Finance, (they are) sailing all over the place,” he declared.

The former President said the argument about the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) sabotaging the economy was senseless and did not hold any ground, but rather reeked of political prejudice.

Jagdeo, who is the current Opposition Leader, reminded that international financial agencies like the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had pointed out that the economy would collapse.

“There has been a decrease of supply in foreign currency to the market from every sector, except gold. We earned less in foreign currency. FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) has dropped (and) remittances have dropped,” he explained.

Jagdeo also criticised the central bank’s explanation for the slowdown in the economy, describing it as “lame”.

“We don’t have a freely determined exchange rate any longer,” Jagdeo stated, while contending that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government has destroyed it. According to him, the Government has kept the rate at G$215 because of “bullyisim and executive fiat”.”

In highlighting recent comments made by Jordan in sections of the media about Government’s intention to maintain prudent fiscal policies against external shocks, Jagdeo said his comments were baseless.

“They hide behind this. Things that sound good but mean nothing,” he opined.

Jordan said recently that Government planned to continue improving its operations to ensure that the measures outlined in the 2017 budget were executed on schedule.

“Is he saying that they are going to cut expenditure to adjust to the changing global environment or is he saying that they are going to increase expenditure? Is he saying that we are going to cut taxes or increase taxes to get more revenue?

That’s when it makes sense,” Jagdeo stated.

Jordan had said that the overall economic and fiscal performance in 2016 was similar to, or slightly better than, the projections developed at the time the 2017 Budget was prepared.

Since the budget was prepared, he said, the risk of external shocks has increased. The Minister maintains that Guyana remains highly vulnerable to shocks owing to the absence of a diversified economy.

Django
Last edited by Django

AFC/PNC still does not have the knowledge to grow the economy. They emptied the treasury and taxed the nation to death. The newly imposed taxes are a serious drain to a very sluggish economy.

AFC/PNC is doomed.  Too little too late.

They remind me of tax and spend Liberals.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Jagdeo exposes the Jackass Harmon:

“Is he saying that they are going to cut expenditure to adjust to the changing global environment or is he saying that they are going to increase expenditure? Is he saying that we are going to cut taxes or increase taxes to get more revenue?

That’s when it makes sense,” Jagdeo stated.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
yuji22 posted:

AFC/PNC still does not have the knowledge to grow the economy. They emptied the treasury and taxed the nation to death. The newly imposed taxes are a serious drain to a very sluggish economy.

AFC/PNC is doomed.  Too little too late.

They remind me of tax and spend Liberals.

Man shut your ignorant behind. The APNU can do exactly what the PPP did ....let the drug lords run free, let the money launderers ply their trade and borrow their ass off while letting multinationals come in and plunder the environment.  I an glad the are not into borrowing and spending on large hotique items and has cut back on the givaway of resources. They have a wind fall of gold income but simply dumping it on the economy on useless project like the PPP did will not produce the multiplier effect of circuilating the money many times in the economy. It will be vaccumed up by the cambios and retail trade and sent off to Orland. The influx on capital must be on projects that will create new products and on local companies with local manufacturing interests and who are not proxies for the rich folks on the Orlando/Tampa corridor

FM
D2 posted:
yuji22 posted:

AFC/PNC still does not have the knowledge to grow the economy. They emptied the treasury and taxed the nation to death. The newly imposed taxes are a serious drain to a very sluggish economy.

AFC/PNC is doomed.  Too little too late.

They remind me of tax and spend Liberals.

Man shut your ignorant behind. The APNU can do exactly what the PPP did ....let the drug lords run free, let the money launderers ply their trade and borrow their ass off while letting multinationals come in and plunder the environment.  I an glad the are not into borrowing and spending on large hotique items and has cut back on the givaway of resources. They have a wind fall of gold income but simply dumping it on the economy on useless project like the PPP did will not produce the multiplier effect of circuilating the money many times in the economy. It will be vaccumed up by the cambios and retail trade and sent off to Orland. The influx on capital must be on projects that will create new products and on local companies with local manufacturing interests and who are not proxies for the rich folks on the Orlando/Tampa corridor

Guyana remains a basic commodity economy.  It will never get past that without cheap power.  The influx of capital will not just happen, there needs to be the economic imperative.  Economic stability will remain tenuous, a mile wide and an inch deep.

What new products you have in mind?  What are local manufacturing interest.....vs what?  What are proxies for the rich folks on the Orlando/Tampa corridor?  Who are these?

I don't understand what you mean by dumping the windfall of gold into the economy?  How do they do this?  Do they stand of the roadside and hand money to the public?  How does the money circulate in the economy?  What does cambios have to do with anything locally?   I never knew the treasury dumped forex into local circulation!  What ends up in Orlando and Tampa?

Do you understand this windfall from gold lies with large Canadian and Australian mining interest?  This means that less will permeate into the local economy!

The biggest threat to economic vibrancy, self sufficiency, economic sustainability and wealth distribution will be the destruction of the Agro sector and a lack or strategy for gainful employment.  If they don't have a balanced approach, Guyana will be transformed into a Nigeria or DRC!  Remember "Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink"!

FM

There is nothing to clarify....APNU can be operationally blind to the drug culture as the PPP was and let drugs flow with the Miami effect emerging naturally. Mid late seventies a drug culture saw the rise of Miami. It has since become a haven for dark money and nefarious characters from the Soviet block to China. Much of the PPP "growth" and the rise of the new elite class in the society was on the back of drugs and the underground economy.

Granger has put a plug in that partly because it was prudent and partly because it is the center of the new elite class and their influence in the society and partly because his new friends in the US demands it.  The drug culture being kneecapped, means the laundering of easy cash is also crippled. No new hotels and malls and resorts in the bush will be forth coming and those existing will slowly change hands because they are presently heavily leveraged. That shuts down most of the "shine" in growth in the nation for a moment.

Lacking nefarious cash flow from drugs and the underground economy results in low money circulation. First, all the business activity around the nation were mainly money vacuums and laundry. While they were real enterprises employing many; money merely passed through an the profits do not remain. They were simply moved abroad. Every elite family in GY  have business holdings in Florida. This includes characters like your recently indicted cash rich jet pilot to the Brassington to Jagdeo. There is a rich coterie of Guyanese in Florida who all have network rich connections in the business culture in Guyana.

The only real money in Guyana toaday is income from Gold and from borrowing.  Agriculture was run into the ground by the PPP in their graft schemes with petrocarbide funds  for rice and in sugar, the one big white elephant in skeldon appeared to have dealt the fatal blow to that industry. The problem for Granger is he have to build a real economy. The difficulty here is it will be slow because it is essentially a replacement of the present economy with a new one. Also, we do not have the personnel, or the creative pool of elites to boot strap that easily or quickly. 

However, it will come. It will be in the form of companies springing up to build infrastructure that are locally based. It will mean the Granger government bootstrapping its own people to fill areas of niche needs as small engine manufacturing, vehicle fabricating, modular home building, packaging, storing and marketing many agriculture products we never looked at from avocados, coffee, coco, coconut ( and it's by products) spices all of which does not need large capital investment. I will give rise to a new agri and manufacturing class, service industry and as well an entertainment class.

With the promise of low cost electricity in abundance from gas turbines, oil money and the pending 10 to 20 fold inflation of government bureaucracy in an oil rich universe, Granger has the option to make a real economy and a new class of rich people. It will facilitate large scale refrigeration systems and other storage facilities and I hope, new port facilities upstream of the City ie in Linden  that we can indeed begin to feed the Caribbean.   Why linden you ask? Because It is ideal because it is where the new road networks will converge from Suriname to Brazil to the rest of the country. It is also High, has lots of land, and is open to a grand design from the ground up

That is the dilemma of the PPP. They will inevitably lose in 2020 and their reluctance to change the constitution will mean an APNU government and its new elite culture that will dominate business and finance for the next fifty years. That is a fact jack. Complaining that black people does not have smarts and it reside only in the indian elite class is going to be the last laugh for many who now exist only to see the PPP become a tick on a sows backside.

FM
Last edited by Former Member
D2 posted:

There is nothing to clarify....APNU can be operationally blind to the drug culture as the PPP was and let drugs flow with the Miami effect emerging naturally. Mid late seventies a drug culture saw the rise of Miami. It has since become a haven for dark money and nefarious characters from the Soviet block to China. Much of the PPP "growth" and the rise of the new elite class in the society was on the back of drugs and the underground economy.

Granger has put a plug in that partly because it was prudent and partly because it is the center of the new elite class and their influence in the society and partly because his new friends in the US demands it.  The drug culture being kneecapped, means the laundering of easy cash is also crippled. No new hotels and malls and resorts in the bush will be forth coming and those existing will slowly change hands because they are presently heavily leveraged. That shuts down most of the "shine" in growth in the nation for a moment.

Lacking nefarious cash flow from drugs and the underground economy results in low money circulation. First, all the business activity around the nation were mainly money vacuums and laundry. While they were real enterprises employing many; money merely passed through an the profits do not remain. They were simply moved abroad. Every elite family in GY  have business holdings in Florida. This includes characters like your recently indicted cash rich jet pilot to the Brassington to Jagdeo. There is a rich coterie of Guyanese in Florida who all have network rich connections in the business culture in Guyana.

The only real money in Guyana toaday is income from Gold and from borrowing.  Agriculture was run into the ground by the PPP in their graft schemes with petrocarbide funds  for rice and in sugar, the one big white elephant in skeldon appeared to have dealt the fatal blow to that industry. The problem for Granger is he have to build a real economy. The difficulty here is it will be slow because it is essentially a replacement of the present economy with a new one. Also, we do not have the personnel, or the creative pool of elites to boot strap that easily or quickly. 

However, it will come. It will be in the form of companies springing up to build infrastructure that are locally based. It will mean the Granger government bootstrapping its own people to fill areas of niche needs as small engine manufacturing, vehicle fabricating, modular home building, packaging, storing and marketing many agriculture products we never looked at from avocados, coffee, coco, coconut ( and it's by products) spices all of which does not need large capital investment. I will give rise to a new agri and manufacturing class, service industry and as well an entertainment class.

With the promise of low cost electricity in abundance from gas turbines, oil money and the pending 10 to 20 fold inflation of government bureaucracy in an oil rich universe, Granger has the option to make a real economy and a new class of rich people. It will facilitate large scale refrigeration systems and other storage facilities and I hope, new port facilities upstream of the City ie in Linden  that we can indeed begin to feed the Caribbean.   Why linden you ask? Because It is ideal because it is where the new road networks will converge from Suriname to Brazil to the rest of the country. It is also High, has lots of land, and is open to a grand design from the ground up

That is the dilemma of the PPP. They will inevitably lose in 2020 and their reluctance to change the constitution will mean an APNU government and its new elite culture that will dominate business and finance for the next fifty years. That is a fact jack. Complaining that black people does not have smarts and it reside only in the indian elite class is going to be the last laugh for many who now exist only to see the PPP become a tick on a sows backside.

Show us the evidence that Granger stopped money laundering and prevented drug money from entering Guyana and influencing the economy. Every time an Indian put up a home, you and your slop can crew scream drug money.  We have seen no evidence that the PNC have stopped drug money from entering Guyana. Give the specifics that prevented this in the past 2 years. 

FM

This is correct, the pnc only arresting small time drug sellers. Meanwhile the big boys continue to run free. Even BK have secured a place in his pocket book for Granger et al 

FM
Drugb posted:
D2 posted:

Show us the evidence that Granger stopped money laundering and prevented drug money from entering Guyana and influencing the economy. Every time an Indian put up a home, you and your slop can crew scream drug money.  We have seen no evidence that the PNC have stopped drug money from entering Guyana. Give the specifics that prevented this in the past 2 years. 

I never said it stopped. The there is still a sizable drug economy and many businesses are still front for laundering cash. In time it will stop. If the indian has no sources of income to generate the cost of the building he/builds then there is no other conclusion but some nefarious trade.

FM
Georgie posted:

MONEY Laundering and corruption is now worst today under Granger than it was under the PPP.  Check Harmun and Trotmtan and the Riverman Jardan pocket.

Now you talking. 

Watch the Dirty Indian Django rush to defend PNC thieves.

FM

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