Forestry projected to recover in 2017

DPI, GUYANA, Monday, November 27, 2017

Guyana’s forest sector is likely to see an improvement in its contractions, however, expected production for 2017 will not surpass 2016.

The performance and projections for forestry were made by Minister of Finance Winston Jordan today, during his presentation of the 2018 National Budget to the National Assembly.

Minister Jordan noted that the forestry sub-sector is expected to show some improvement with a projected slowing of the contraction to 7.2 percent in 2017, from 27.3 percent in 2016. Meanwhile, total production for 2017 is projected to be 297,070 cubic meters which is 10 percent lower than 2016.

However, the forestry sector, together with agriculture and fishing is expected to show an estimated growth of 0.2 percent up from the 10.3 percent decline recorded for 2016.

The forest sector remains challenged in stimulating growth and adding value to production.  Minister Jordan reiterated that the government’s commitment to the European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (EU-FLEGT) programme to “strengthen the capacity on our forestry sub-sector to adapt to sustainable production practices which, ultimately, will improve international competitiveness and our access to foreign markets”.

An Inter-Ministerial Roundtable, which was created to address the challenges faced by the forestry sector, will continue in work in 2018 to resolve outstanding issues with regards to forestry and commence discussions on the next priority industry.

 

By: Tiffny Rhodius