GEORGETOWN, Guyana, (CMC) - For Guyanese, 2001 was a year of crucial general elections, an acceleration in deportations from the United States, continuing economic difficulties and some problems with flooding.

Guyanese breathed a sigh of relief after the March 19 general elections that signalled an end to three years of political turmoil.

Though the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP)/Civic retained power for a third straight time, this time around the main opposition Peoples National Congress (PNC) did not challenge the legitimacy of the poll, as it did in 1997.

However, Georgetown was hit a series of fires, widely believed to be politically associated. The fires destroyed several businesses and government offices.

Political tensions were defused after Opposition Leader Desmond Hoyte and President Bharrat Jagdeo met to discuss their differences.

With the easing of political tension, there was greater confidence by some businesses in investing in Guyana.

Among them was the Guyanese-owned Universal Airlines, which began flying to and from the United States in November.

Caribbean Star, the privately-owned, Antigua-based airline, also added Guyana to its long list of routes which it shares with the financially-troubled LIAT (1974) Limited.

The year also brought some good news for the victims of HIV and AIDS.

With Guyana ranked as one of the countries hard hit by HIV/AIDS, government gave the green light to a local pharmaceutical company to manufacture drugs to combat the killer disease.

ECONOMIC SLUMP

On the economic front, there was some bad news. Guyana experienced a slump during the first six months of 2001, with growth tagged at - 1.3 per cent. This was partly due to decreased earnings from Guyana's major exports.

In the vital rice industry, thousands of large and small-scale farmers were crying out for better terms to repay at least 1.5 billion Guyana dollars to the commercial banks.

This followed reports that some banks were seizing the assets of indebted farmers. Farmers found themselves in deep trouble because of bad weather and low prices.

Farmers had another problem - flooding. The agricultural sector as well as the lives of at least 4,000 residents at the East Coast Demerara village of Cane Grove were disrupted by a massive flood caused by a breach in a water conservancy.

The mining sector also had its share of problems. While Guyana was continuing the search for foreign buyers of the ailing bauxite industry, the last foreign bauxite concern of ALCOA-Reynolds pulled out from the Aroaima mines, citing unprofitability.

A ruling by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that American telephone companies carriers will have to pay foreign companies like the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) less for completing calls, illustrated Guyana's vulnerability to international market changes.

The FCC ruling means that GT&T will from January next year be paid US 23 cents instead of US 85 cents.

TELEPHONE COMPANY FACES SOME LOSSES
And so a ruling against an application for a hike in local rates to compensate for the loss in revenue means that GT&T will lose at least US$3 million monthly.

Even as Guyana continued work to eventually break the telecommunications monopoly held by GT&T, a private television station operator filed a constitutional motion challenging government's preservation of its monopoly on radio broadcasting with three stations.

Citing unprofitability, government closed one of the stations in October at the height of a strike by workers of the state-owned Guyana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) over alleged financial misdeeds as well as over low salaries.

Filing of the constitutional motion by Anthony Vieira came days after authorities seized vital components of an unlicensed FM transmitter, which was beaming music round the clock.

The fallout from the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US World Trade Center and the Pentagon did not hit Guyana's fledgling tourist industry as hard as it did other nations'.

But several families were affected, because more than 25 Guyanese lost their lives in the disaster.

Guyana had its own brand of terrorism when two Colombians, a Brazilian and a Uruguayan hijacked a domestic plane at gun-point.

They ordered the plane, with its pilot and nine passengers, flown from Lethem in southern Guyana to neighbouring Brazil. The hijackers stayed in Brazil, released the plane and freed the passengers unhurt.

The Uruguayan was subsequently reported to have been arrested by the Brazilian authorities and charged.

DISPUTE OVER DEPORTATIONS
On the international front, the refusal by the government in

Georgetown to accept 113 Guyanese whose deportations from the US were pending for at least three years pushed relations between the two countries to an all-time low.

The US resorted to banning the granting of non-immigrant visas to Guyana government employees and their immediate families.

The two-month old ban was lifted in December after Guyana said it had finally verified that the 113 were indeed Guyanese and accepted all.

In Guyana, the year ended with a pay dispute between the government and the powerful Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) dragging on.

Government workers are demanding a more than 20 per cent pay increase for 2001 but government says it cannot offer a hike of more than 5.5 per cent.