Govt’s work to improve economic growth reflected in Mid-year report – Minister Indar
All the work that Government has done to catapult the economy is being reflected in the statistics released in the mid-year report.
That was the view expressed by Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, MP during an interview on Wednesday evening on the National Communications Network (NCN).
The report released earlier on Wednesday shows the growth in Guyana’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 14.5 per cent. Minister Indar said this growth is one of the highest half-year growth figures worldwide, despite facing a pandemic, a national disaster and other challenges.
“What this means is, all of the work that we have been doing between Government and Private Sector is now showing up in the numbers.”
The Minister said while the extractive sector grew exponentially, there are other sectors that stood out. These include the services sector that grew by 9.4 per cent, manufacturing sector by 13 per cent and the construction sector by 25.5 per cent.
He said the massive growth in the construction sector is due to Government’s activities, having budgeted billions of dollars for the construction of roads and bridges. The Minister also alluded to Government’s massive housing drive ongoing countrywide.
“When these ministries of Government, the budget agencies put out these spending, it goes through the public procurement process and the private sector would normally pick up those contracts to execute them… when you have that kind of spending in the country, it drives demand in the productive sector.”
The minister said Guyana’s tourism sector holds some amount of responsibility for the growth in the services sector, explaining that visitors for the first half of the year totalled 63,000 despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
“That means something. It tells you about the interest in Guyana as an investment destination. So, you are seeing it happening. These numbers are real extract from actual travellers coming in.”
Minister Indar said the growth is also linked to the removal of draconian measures which were implemented by the previous administration. He said those measures were designed to heavily tax people and curtail economic activity.
“You cannot tax an economy so heavily and expect it to grow. That is the problem and that is the economic philosophy that was by the previous government… you cannot tax your way to prosperity, the economy has to grow and when the economy grows, the corresponding income is taxed so that the taxation level grows in line with the economy.”
Minister Indar said with the mid-year figures and the full year growth projected at 19.5 per cent, Guyana is headed in the right direction. However, he noted that Government cannot drop the ball, instead, it must continue to build on the what has been started so that it can continue to deliver to the people.