Gov’t agencies receiving training to boost capacity
DPI, Guyana, Monday, February 3, 2020
A five-day training course for capacity building in macroeconomic management in resource-rich countries is underway at the Arthur Chung Conference Centr.
Addressing the opening, Minister of Finance, Hon. Winston Jordan said the exercise was useful given the start of oil production. He said it was decided to host the sessions locally rather than send two to three people annually to IMF headquarters for training.
“We consider that the impact of having a core of 35 to 40 persons exposed together, at home, would certainly redound to more effective national capacity building and institutional strengthening in strategic technical areas of the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Guyana, and other key sector ministries and stakeholders.
I hope the collective thinking that is inspired by the content of this course leads, subsequently, to well- researched and thought-out technical advice from those of you here today,” he stated.
The minister explained that the programme aims to elevate the level of thinking, discourse and analysis among the critical technical agencies that contribute to compiling key details that affect the economy such as GDP, inflation and employment numbers.
Participants include representatives from Bank of Guyana, the Ministries of Public Infrastructure, Finance, Natural Resources, Agriculture, and the Department of Energy
“These are reflective of agencies that play key roles in designing the programmes and projects that are instrumental to the diversification efforts and institutional strengthening that must be undertaken with haste, to ensure that we are able to mitigate the detrimental impact of Dutch disease and resource curse,” the minister said.
The workshop is being led by IMF consultants Andrew Warner and Ugo Fasan and is one of several exercises intended to boost capacity across government agencies.
Note: Macroeconomics is the branch of economics that studies the behaviour and performance of an economy in general. It focuses on the combined changes in the economy, such as unemployment, growth rate, gross domestic product, and inflation.