GUYANA-President assures government has a handle on the growing oil economy

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Government has a handle on the country’s growing economy. It will continue strengthening its master plan to guard against any wasteful or excess spending of funds, as President Irfaan Ali promised.

The assurance has come against the background of projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Guyana is on track to seeing 47.2 percent growth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the end of this year.

Ali assured that his government is taking all necessary measures to secure Guyana’s economy and prevent overheating – that is, when its productive capacity is unable to keep pace with growing aggregate demand generally.

“This is something that we are managing, we are very cautious about, and we are ensuring that whatever we do, we are not overextending ourselves, the financial system, and we are keeping to the transformative investment,” he said.

“That’s where the balance of management comes in. You could get carried away very easily when you have resources coming your way and go on a massive expansion plan or expenditure plan that could cause hyperinflation.”

President Ali explained that even if the current investments have temporary supply issues, they will be the bedrock on which the future transformation will take place.

He said the local economy is creating many opportunities for jobs in both the public and private sectors, to the extent that there are issues with labor supply.

New employment has been created through a housing program, and more jobs are expected in the industrial and manufacturing sectors.

“We have a private sector that is booming, a private sector that is seeing the tremendous transformation. We have an investment portfolio that must be implemented if we are to deliver the housing program… open up new lands for agriculture, new highways so that we can build the industrial parks and development that we want to do,” President Ali said.

The government also recently launched its part-time jobs initiative, and with the construction of six new hotels, at least 6,000 Guyanese will be trained to work in the hospitality sector.