by Kenneth King
Stabroek News
June 17, 2001

[National Development Strategy website]

This is the first of a series of articles by Dr Kenneth King on the National Development Strategy (NDS). Dr King was co-ordinator of the committee that put together the revised NDS.

Although Guyana is beset with many economic, social and political problems, all of which demand immediate attention, the formulators of the National Development Strategy (NDS) did not find it difficult to decide on the strategy's objectives. It was evident to them that the country could not develop in a meaningful way unless it achieved the highest rates of economic growth that were possible. They therefore decided that the growth of the economy should be the NDS's primary objective. They were positive that without such growth, social services could not be improved, the quality of the infrastructure could not be enhanced and maintained, and the many other services which combine to raise the standard of living of a country's citizens, could not be provided.

They did not intend, however, to rely solely on the market-place to ensure that a measure of social justice should prevail in Guyana. Accordingly, they determined that economic growth must be accompanied and underpinned by strategies that were deliberately designed to assist the disadvantaged of our country.

It should therefore not be surprising that the second objective of the NDS is that of poverty eradication. Poverty pervades our society. Indeed, a Household Income and Expenditure Survey which was conducted in 1999 indicates that 36.4 per cent of our population lives in absolute poverty, and that 19.1 per cent exists in a state of critical poverty. Although these figures portray a marked reduction of poverty in Guyana since 1993, when the last survey was undertaken, the fact that one out of three persons in Guyana cannot afford the basic necessities of life, or does not have access to them, is totally unacceptable. In addition to the moral concerns which we should all experience for the plight of our most vulnerable groups, the material well-being of all societies ultimately depends upon significantly improving the living standards of the poor.

Every Guyanese must be aware that, despite our frequent claim that our nation occupies a larger area than any of the other CARICOM countries, most of our population exists in a narrow, crowded, retreating coastal zone, with very few outlets for our urgent demands for housing and industrial development. Equally debilitating is the fact that this coastal strip is virtually isolated from the rest of the country. Indeed, there is only one inadequate and unfinished roadway connecting the country's northern coast to its southern border with Brazil. Moreover, the country's main rivers are almost all intersected by rapids and waterfalls, and are therefore both difficult and hazardous to traverse. As a consequence, much reliance is placed on air-transport to provide the vital linkages between the coastal area and the hinterland.

Unfortunately, the development of this sub-sector of the economy is also rudimentary. At present, of the nearly 200 air-fields which had been established over the years, only 100 are in use; and these are mostly unpaved with extremely short runways. The capacity of the aircraft which they can accommodate is therefore severely limited.

The effects of all this are that, first, the ability of Guyanese to utilise competitively the forest, mineral, land and water resources of the interior is seriously constrained; and second that large proportions of our people are unable to enjoy the beauty and splendour of their country's hinterland landscapes. It was therefore decided that the third objective of the NDS must be the achievement of geographical unity. This means integrating the country spatially so that all its administrative regions may become equal partners, and together contribute to the nation's development.

This is a matter of the highest priority given, as we have stressed, the present difficulties and high costs of internal transport, and the fissiparous tendencies which now appear to be growing in our society. Its urgency is attested to by the fact that Venezuela has unconcealed pretensions to a large part of our territory. The attainment of this objective would, also, of course, lead to the penetration of the interior, and to a more rational distribution of the country's population.

The fourth objective of the NDS, to a great extent, complements the third. Its primary purpose is the removal of the disparities in income and economic activity which exist among the regions, and the support of the process of shifting the nation's citizens from the coast to the hinterland. If the strategies that have been prescribed in the NDS are followed, and if this objective is therefore attained, there would be in ten years' time a radical re-distribution of Guyana's population throughout the country, and much more productive economic endeavours in the Intermediate and Rupununi Savannahs, in the Mazaruni/Potaro areas, in the North-West District and along the south-eastern borders of our country.

Indeed, the attainment of the third and fourth objectives of the NDS would lead to the realisation of a goal which many Guyanese economists and development specialists have long considered to be an imperative of their country's development: the optional utilisation of all the country's resources and geographical areas.

Most objective observers would agree that our economy is anachronistic. Not only do we basically still produce only raw materials to which we apply little or no technology to increase their value, but we sell the same raw materials in the same markets which were created and protected by our imperial masters in colonial times. Moreover, in the few instances in which attempts are being made to produce secondary and tertiary goods, the technology that is applied in the conversion processes that are employed is generally obsolescent and uncompetitive. If we are to survive and prosper in this age of globalization it is necessary that we modernise our existing economy so that we might not only produce goods competitively, but also transform and add value to the products that are derived from the very raw materials which we currently utilise. It must be clearly understood, also, that our country cannot continue to rely on only a narrow economic base, especially one that is so dependent on preferential agreements and tariffs. We must, therefore, for example. produce new crops and extend the range of economic activity within the agricultural sector to include agro-based industries. We must adapt and apply cutting-edge technology, throughout the economy, wherever feasible. We must, in addition to producing our traditional outputs in a more sophisticated manner, embark on the provision of a range of services which have been identified in the NDS. All these types of activities we have classified under the rubric of 'diversification.' This is our fifth objective.

To summarise, the objectives of the NDS are: the attainment of the highest rates of economic growth; the eradication of poverty; the attainment of geographic unity; the equitable distribution of economic activity; and the diversification of the country. If these are attained Guyana would be well on its way to becoming a middle-income country in ten to fifteen years' time.