Good news for Guyana
Editorial
Guyana Chronicle
December 20, 2003
GUYANA has qualified for debt relief under the enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.
The disclosure was made by Mr. Murilo Portugal, Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following a meeting of the Executive Board of the Fund in Washington on Wednesday.
This is certainly good news for the country, since, as pointed out by President Bharrat Jagdeo at his press conference, IMF/World Bank qualification meant that Guyana stood to benefit from a 20-year debt relief package which would enable the country to retain US$30M per year that otherwise would have had to be utilized to service our external debts.
And, in a separate development, the European Union has agreed to make available to the Government of Guyana a sum of $37M Euros to fund developmental works in the rice sector and the installation of a regional weather warning system.
These are indeed major developments, which are indicative of the enormous goodwill that Guyana continues to enjoy from the international donor community following the return of free and fair elections to the country in October 5, 1992.
The granting of debt relief to the country under the Enhanced HIPC must be seen as a major boost for the country, which had been reeling under the yoke of an enormous debt burden inherited by the former PNC administration.
The debt burden has proven to be a significant drag on the country's ability to develop on a sustainable basis and in its continuing efforts to alleviate poverty, which, even though significantly reduced, remains at an unacceptable level.
In 1992, Government inherited a debt burden of US2.1 billion. That figure has now been reduced to just over US$1 million and is expected to decline even further now that the country has benefited from additional debt write-offs.
The granting of debt relief will now allow for a greater quantum of resources to be put in the sectors - education, health, housing, water and so on - and in the upgrading of the country's productive capacity.
The Government of Guyana must be given credit for having satisfactorily met the benchmarks set by the donor institutions. As pointed out by the Executive Director of the IMF on Wednesday, "Guyana has established a satisfactory track record of social reforms and macroeconomics and structural policy implementation to qualify for debt relief under HIPC and the requirements for reaching the completion point under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative."
"Debt relief, together with the Government's commitment to sustained structural reforms and macro economic stability, provide Guyana with a sound framework for achieving the poverty reduction and growth objectives of its PRSP," the IMF statement concluded.
As we pointed out earlier, Guyana's qualification for debt relief under the enhanced HIPC Initiative is good news not merely for the Government of Guyana but the People of Guyana.
It has been said elsewhere that the international community approves and grants aid to a country not because a certain party is in power - except where economic ideology becomes a factor - but because it believes that whatever inflows it endorses will be beneficial to ALL OF THE PEOPLE of the country in which the assistance is directed.
The expectation, and our hope, is that all Guyanese will see the debt relief qualification in an "all Guyana to benefit" context and strive to do whatever is necessary to ensure that we indeed derive maximum benefits from the relief.