Recent budgets have not been tackling job creation
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Recent budgets have not been tackling job creation
- Lowe
Stabroek News
April 5, 2000
PNC backbencher Sherwood Lowe says that budget 2000 does not address reducing unemployment and if it had been submitted at a University of Guyana examination it would have scored a `D' grade.
"When you look at this budget it's clear that it is an exercise of self denial. It is as if the PPP is drifting on a cloud somewhere. There are serious problems in the country but the budget does not address these. It is not in sync with the realities of this country," Lowe stated on day one of debate on the 2000 budget on Monday in Parliament.
Alluding to the budget, Lowe said Guyanese had to understand the stranglehold the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has on the management of the country's economy and the tame acceptance of the PPP of this situation.
He described the relationship between the present government and the IMF as an unholy marriage and stated that the PPP administration was bereft of its own vision.
He pointed out that the development model imposed by the IMF on developing countries took no account of the socio-economic-political situation in a country. The current administration also ignored the local specifics, Lowe said. This, he blamed for the "disruptive" situation which enveloped the country during the 55-day public service strike.
Important stakeholders were not conferred with when the government and IMF held discussions on issues that affect the Guyanese people, he said.
Lowe stated that the IMF development model has two phases: (i) the stabilisation phase where there is no inflation and the economy holds steady and (ii) the post-stabilisation phase where the country experiences an economic take-off. But he pointed out that two of the worst scourges being experienced by the Guyanese people are poverty and employment and they are not being tackled adequately. No aspect of the budget over the past several years has addressed the issue of unemployment, Lowe stated.
A SIMAP handout would not help the situation, he said, only economic growth will bring sustainable employment and poverty alleviation.
He alluded to the wider Caribbean region which he said has understood what is required. In Barbados the unemployment rate has dropped to below ten per cent and Jamaica has created 55,000 new jobs, he stated.
Noting that the economy had enjoyed a small percentage growth last year, Lowe said this was not due to government's initiative.
He congratulated the hard work done by the workers in the rice and sugar industries which largely contributed to the "sunshine growth," disregarding any probable government contribution.
Lowe described the growth achieved as of low quality, stating that the country needed boosting in important sectors such as technology.
The PNC backbencher said there was nothing in the budget to attract foreign investment, stating that this was one aspect where the IMF programmes fell down.
He queried the lack of measures in the budget to stimulate value-added production in sectors such as agriculture.
The budget also did not cater for the protection of the country's economy from the vagaries of the world economy and the adverse effects of globalisation, he stated.
In the education sector, Lowe criticised the government's handling of Queen's College's proposed reconstruction and its decision to establish a University of Guyana campus in Berbice. He noted that the Queen's College Old Students Association had indicated that $100 million was required for the initial reconstruction for the school which was destroyed by fire in 1997. In the capital projects profile of the budget, $100 million has been allocated for Queen's College and five other schools, Lowe pointed out.
"This raises a bigger issue: what is the government's understanding of nation building?" he asked.
Lowe noted that the University of Guyana was understaffed and underfunded, yet much needed funds were being diverted to establish the Berbice campus. He contended that the 18 secondary schools in Regions Five and Six did not deliver the quality of education to feed a tertiary level institution. The Berbice campus is just a political gimmick, Lowe declared. (Andrew Richards)
