GINA - GUYANA has leapt 41 places, from 58th in 1988-1991 to 17th out of 140 countries for the period 1999-2002 on the world ratings on foreign direct investments (FDI). And Guyana is one of just five Latin America and Caribbean countries to have gotten in to the top 44 countries.
At the official Guyana launch of the world investment report yesterday, United Nations representative, Helge Muller, said the FDI trends over the last three years saw a tremendous increase, but a steep spiral in the latter part of that period came about as a result of a reduction in mergers and acquisitions and the decline in stock.
The foreign direct investment performance index is contained in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) 2003 World Investment Report. This is despite a global decline in FDI's since 2000. Even the information technology boom at the turn of the century has gone into a decline.
Remarkably, Guyana is one of just five Latin America and Caribbean countries to have gotten in to the top 44 countries. The other four are The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
Brasil and China, for the last three decades dominated the world FDIs, snaring in approximately half of all of the world's Foreign Direct Investments for that period.
Over the last eleven years up to 2002, FDI's averaged US$53M or 7.5 percent of Guyana's GDP, with a high foreign investment concentration on mining, processed food, wood, communications technology and services.
Minister of Finance Sasenarine Kowlessar said the upsurge in real foreign investments is due mainly to the creation of an enabling investment climate. He said positive growth, low inflation and low interest rates are just a few attributes of the local economy that allowed for Guyana's performance.
He said prudent management of the economy has also allowed for the basic economic fundamentals that are necessary for investments. The Minister referred to the new Bank of Guyana Act, the new FIA, Insurance Act and the new Securities Exchange Act as measures undertaken by Government in its deliberate and consorted effort to boost investment. Minister Kowlessar said the soon to be enacted Investment Bill to be tabled in the National Assembly will complement the already existing initiatives.
Executive head of the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-INVEST), Geoffrey DaSilva, said whilst the FDIs are important, encouraging local investment is equally essential. He said that Government is encouraging investments of all sizes, whilst working toward the equal distribution of the benefits of investments for all Guyana.
The Guyana Office for Investment has projected that by the end of 2003, it will have overseen in excess of G$17 billion in new investments. This accounts for both foreign and local investments.