Though views diverge on figure Officials agree remittances issue closely linked to development
By Linda Rutherford
Guyana Chronicle
February 1, 2004
A STUDY commissioned by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) tags remittances coming from Guyanese in the US diaspora alone at as much as US$230M per annum, but Finance Minister, Mr Saisnarine Kowlessar disputes this, saying the claim is unfounded.
He told a caucus here Friday at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel on the growing inter-dependence between remittances and development that while he has no quarrel with other aspects of the report and that the document has even found favour with the administration, “where we do have a fallout …. a diversion of views so to speak …. is with the figures which have been given, as far as the level and quantum of remittances are concerned.”
“Officially, we can’t find those figures,” he said. “If you look at the balance of payments and look at the monetary aggregates [such as] monies in supply; money in circulation…. the banking excess reserves and so on, it is not reflected in those figures.”
The study at reference, titled ‘Distant but Close: Guyanese Trans-national Communities and Their Remittances from the United States’, which was central to the discussion, ‘Linking Back to Communities of Origin: Contributions of the Guyanese Diaspora’, was conducted by Dr Manuel Orozco, currently Central America’s Project Director at the Inter-American Dialogue and lecturer at the US Foreign Service Institute.
It evolved from a series of surveys done both here and in the USA, particularly in those states that are heavily populated by Guyanese such as New York, and entailed among other methods used during the course of his investigations, a random survey involving a total of 686 immigrants from five countries, the majority of whom, 236 or 34 per cent to be exact, were Guyanese. The remaining 66 per cent of interviewees were from Mexico, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador.
The Minister argues that were one to take seriously the figures projected in the study, between US$150 – US$230, then it would be safe to say that remittances account for a significant portion - as much as 32 per cent in last year’s case - of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which sum was not just half of the relief granted Guyana under the Enhanced HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Country) Initiative, but enough to service the country’s heavy debt burden.
Noting that the issue of net flow and the need to factor it into the equation when talking about remittances was raised before at another forum when the study was in its initial stages, Minister Kowlessar said one also needs to take into account the costs incurred to train the very people who are now residing abroad and sending money back home, such as our nurses and our teachers.
These concerns aside, the Minister said he speaks for the government when he says the study is not just stimulating but “very revealing” as well.
“It does point to a number of policy measures and initiatives which we may need to take to improve the situation; to have greater flows of remittances, as many of the speakers have pointed to,” he said.
And in response to the suggestion to create a Junior Minister position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with issues pertaining to Guyanese in the diaspora and the whole question of remittances, be it cash or kind, at the policy level, Minister Kowlessar said:
“I think the question is not just appointing or having someone to assist in that process. My strong belief is that the Private Sector has to play an important role in all of this. The Private Sector is the engine of growth; we’ve all recognised that. And the Private Sector has to play its role; government is only the facilitator.
The suggestion was thrown out by Guyanese Dr Percy Hintzen, Professor and Chair of African-American Studies at the University of Berkeley, in California, whose role at the encounter was that of ‘Report Discussant’.
Other contributors to the parley were US Ambassador, Mr. Roland Bullen; USAID/GEO (Guyana Economic Opportunities) Project Director, Mr. Tom Whitney who chaired the proceedings; USAID-Guyana Mission Director, Dr Mike Sarhan; and Dr. Vincent Adams and Ms. Meigan Chan, who spoke on behalf of the non-profit organisations, The Linden Fund and Guyanese Assisting in Development (GUYAID) respectively.