CDB hails Guyana’s ‘responsible’ fiscal reforms –ranks it alongside Haiti, Suriname as fast becoming lead regional economies THE Barbados-based financial institution, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), projects that Guyana, along with Suriname and Haiti, will take the lead amongst the regional economies, in terms of accelerating growth in the next two years.This is according to the CDB’s President, Dr William Warren Smith, during the bank’s annual press conference last Tuesday at its headquarters in Barbados. The bank has projected that the Caribbean Region will, in 2014, experience an overall growth of 3.7 per cent, with much of Guyana’s growth being driven by its mining sector. Vibrant economy “Guyana is a good example of a country that has done some of the right things, and at the same time has also benefitted from good fortune. They have come a very, very long distance in terms of their fiscal situation. They have been responsible in terms of addressing it,” Dr Smith said, adding: “Guyana has a very vibrant mining sector, and even though gold prices might be somewhat down at this particular point in time, there are still a lot of investments that are taking place in the mining sector generally, and in gold in particular. “Generally, there is a lot of vibrancy in the Guyanese economy. Just by casual observation, one can see that there is a lot of construction that is taking place in the country. I’d like to say that whenever I go to Guyana, you can almost see the country changing in front of your eyes, and so that is just a casual indication of the extent to which economic activity is vibrant and buoyant in that country,” he told regional journalists Tuesday. Good lessons He went on to say that there were some very good lessons to be learnt from Guyana’s experiences, as although Guyana has followed a very tough road, the good news is that it has shown resilience and responsibility in the management of its economy, in that it has taken advantage of the breaks it has been fortunate to have. “…and that is an important lesson, because, sometimes, countries which were in a much better position that Guyana in the past did not take advantage of those opportunities. So just from this standpoint of lesson learnt, Guyana is a study,” Dr Smith said. Guyana, for the CDB, he said, also represents real opportunity, as “if we want to sustain ourselves as an institution, we have to have a very close working relationship with Guyana, because Guyana, Suriname the large countries represent opportunity for growth diversification and expansion; and that is very critical for the longevity and the sustainability of the Caribbean Development Bank.” Guyana continues to benefit from its partnership with the financial institution, having been a founder-member since the institution came into being on January 26, 1970. In 2012, 33% of the US$166M in loan approvals by the institution was for projects in Guyana. “Even through the most difficult of times that Guyana has experienced through the years, Guyana has met its obligation to the Caribbean Development Bank, and we are very grateful for that,” Dr Smith said. CDB funding in Guyana has been used for financing social and economic infrastructure such as schools, roads and water projects, building more disaster-resistant structures, community skills training and support for small and medium-sized enterprises. Engaging in climate change “Guyana, being a very large country,” he said, “needs a lot of investment; but naturally, a lot of the investment in your country is going to take place by way of private investment, because of the size of the country, and the relative level of underdevelopment of the infrastructure. I think that is where lot of the focus will have to be. So that is one area that we want to be involved in. CDB has in the past been involved in infrastructure development with regard to roads, we have also financed educational development and one of the areas we are now emphasising is climate resilience.” In 2013, the CDB recorded strong recovery in loan approvals and disbursements, with loan approvals totalling US$139M, up by 34 per cent from US$104M in 2012. Total disbursements amounted to US$86M in 2013, about 60 percent above disbursements of US$116M in 2012. Guyana has benefitted from the special development fund, and as well from loans totalling almost US$28M to strengthen sea and river defence systems “We approved a fairly sizeable loan to Guyana last year for river and sea defences, and that is an area we are going to need continuous investment going forward because of your peculiar circumstances, your geographical location and the fact that a substantial part of the country is below sea level and also climate change- the rising sea levels and so on…so if you do not build the resilience against that type of threat then it is going to undermine your development so that is an area where CDB is more and more becoming active and an area where we want to continue to engage with Guyana in the future,” Dr Smith said. International financial institutions have provided substantial debt forgiveness and Guyana has been able to capitalise on this, whilst continuing to pursue responsible fiscal reforms, he noted. The emerging international market for commodities has also redounded to Guyana’s benefit as it has a lot to offer in this regard, the CDB president noted. “They have been able to use the resources to help develop and grow their economy,” Dr Smith stated. It was also noted by the CBD head that, there is still a far way to go in terms of development, and this will only be possible with reforming the ways in which regional economies are structured and enforcing the fiscal discipline that is necessary to underpin that growth. The financial expert is confident that once the right measures are in place and circumstances permit, the Caribbean Region can achieve developed status within the next two years. (GINA
Posted on: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 07:06:03 +0000
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