DURING the past three years Guyana faced a number of hardships. These included floods, dry weather, an unstable political climate and a few financial problems.

However, in spite of these difficulties, the Government has been able to reduce the fiscal deficit, and, at the same time, increase wages. There is also a “fairly” constant Balance of Payment and a “relatively” stable exchange rate. There has also been more spending on infrastructure, health and education.

In 1992, when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) took office, about 94 per cent of the GDP was going into debt servicing. However, this figure has been reduced drastically and it is expected to be as low as 12 per cent to 14 per cent this year. Therefore, due to good management and good governance of the economy by the PPP/C Government, Guyana was able to be relieved of some of its huge debts. Thus, the economy is continuing to make progress because less of our revenue has to be spent on repaying debt, and more can now be utilised for the provision of public goods and social services.

Presently, most parts of the world including Guyana are experiencing an economic slow-down. However, Guyana’s economy has shown some positive signs, which generally get lost in the scramble to demonstrate negatives.

The rate of inflation, on the basis of the consumer price index, was - 0.4 per cent in 2001 when compared with 1.8 per cent for the corresponding period the previous year.

In 2001 there was also a marginal expansion of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.3 per cent, compared with the 2.8 per cent recorded in the previous year.

The agriculture and forestry sectors were adversely affected by the weather conditions on a continuous basis. This led to the major crops of sugar and rice being affected on numerous occasions.

The rice industry in Guyana has done favourably despite the many challenges the industry had to face. The rice industry has been going through a rather difficult period due to three major factors. One is the situation in terms of the world market; two, the financial factors affecting farmers, (this problem has grown over a number of years); and thirdly, the various weather patterns. Despite the many challenges faced by this sector, production is estimated to be approximately 322,000 metric tonnes in 2001 compared to the 299,000 metric tonnes that were produced in the previous year.

Good performances also were recorded in the sugar industry despite the many challenges the industry had to face. It is expected that the estimated production for 2001 would be 283,000 tonnes. This would exceed the estimated production for the same period last year.

In 2001, the performance of the livestock sector was mixed with output of poultry increasing by 11.6 per cent to 5,483 tonnes. Production of beef and pork remained unchanged since the foot and mouth disease did not affect Guyana.

Forestry production amounted to 242, 873 cubic meters in 2001, 8.2 per cent higher than the corresponding period the previous year. Growth in the forestry sector occurred mainly in log production, which gained 5.3 per cent. Output of greenheart logs was 47.3% higher than the previous year.

In 2001, value-added production in mining and quarrying grew by 2.2 per cent in response to the performance of gold and diamond industries. Gold output was 9.3 per cent higher than the previous year. This performance was mainly due to the improved performance by Omai. The diamond industry continued its good performance in 2001 with a declaration of 51,015 metric carats compared with 35,070 metric carats during the first half of the previous year.

The manufacturing sector recorded mixed production performances during 2001. The non-durable goods industry (beverages, food and garments) recorded higher outputs.

Also the Central Government’s fiscal position improved during the first half of 2001 to record a smaller deficit of $334.4M compared with $1,333.1M during the corresponding period the previous year.

Apart from these positives, there were also negative performances. However, some of these negative performances occurred due to unfortunate situations. Also some negatives occurred mainly as a result of poor performances and management.

However, although there were positive and negative performances by the economy and the various sectors over the last three years, Guyana’s economy has shown great potential and room for improvement in the future. Most importantly, the PPP/C Government has placed economic development at the top of its agenda. (GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SERVICES)