Having completed his first term since his return as Finance Minister in 2020, and being part of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government that has successfully managed an economy that continues to grow exponentially while the country’s landscape has transformed at a rapid pace, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh during an interview with the National Communications Network (NCN) explained that the growth in the country’s economy has been reflected in the creation of economic opportunity for Guyanese in every single sector.
“Everybody who is in economic policy aspires to a situation where your economy is growing. This is the objective of economic policy makers all over the world, but it is also important that that growth translates into improved well-being to the citizens whom you serve. Growth is not an end. It is really the means to a bigger end which is the improvement of the circumstances and lives of people,” Minister Singh posited as he reflected on government’s success over the last years with this year’s Mid-Year report showing strong economic growth, with an estimated 7.5 percent overall real GDP growth in the first half, driven by a 13.8 percent expansion in the non-oil economy.
“Certainly, we have seen very strong economic growth both in the overall economy and also in the non-oil economy, having grown at an average in excess of 10 percent, in the vicinity of 11 percent since 2021, reflecting the fact that that incorporates the benefits in the oil and gas sector along with the creation of economic opportunity in every sector,” the Minister highlighted.
Dr. Singh explained that there has been more foreign direct investment in the country than at any other time in its history reflected in the establishment of new companies and foreign owned businesses that have come to Guyana as well as those entering into partnerships with Guyanese companies and setting up new businesses in every single sector and sub sector of the economy.
“You see it also in the expansion in the credit to the private sector, which has also grown at astronomical rates, certainly over the last five years, more rapidly than at any other time in our country’s history,” Minister Singh further explained.
He noted that these have translated into more economic activity, job creation, and income generation, resulting in 60,000 more persons being employed over the last five years.
“And that’s not a small number. That’s a very significant number, and if you think about it, that expansion has occurred in every single sector of the economy. In oil and gas, you probably have in excess of about 6000 or 7000 persons working that were not six or seven years ago, in the tourism and hospitality sector, there are entire brand new hotels that are in operation, brand new restaurants in operation that didn’t exist before, in the healthcare sector there are several new hospitals that have been established, more doctors, more nurses, more laboratory technicians, more ambulance drivers, more pharmacists, so much so that we are unable to find enough of them,” he highlighted.
The finance minister then reminded that government has been training more persons as rapidly as it can to meet the requirements of both the private and public healthcare sector with private hospitals also expanding.
Turning his attention to the construction sector, the minister noted the ongoing construction boom as he explained that this was not only taking place as part of the public sector investment programme (PSIP), but also private industrial and commercial construction with the physical landscape and face of the country continuing to change.
“There are more factories, more warehouses, more processing plants, more office buildings going up than we’ve ever seen before, so you have private industrial and commercial construction, you have the public sector investment program, which, of course, are the bridges, roads and hospitals and schools that are being built by government, all of which have created job opportunities. And then of course, you have the household sector. These are homes being built,” Dr. Singh further underscored, alluding to the more than 50,000 house lots distributed during government’s first five-year term.
“Many of those house lots are now under construction. Imagine for every single home the number of jobs that will be created, imagine thousands of homes being constructed- carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, painters, transportation, providers. And I could go on and list sector after sector, and you would see that in literally every sector more people are working,” the Minister added.
The Minister said not only are there more people working because of economic growth but that more people are getting better quality jobs as well.
“And then, of course, we have taken the deliberate policy that we want to make sure that we invest in things that are necessary for people to be able to improve their lives so we are investing heavily as well in human capital development, social services, and in particular, in education and training and skills development,” Minister Singh concluded.
The post Economy’s growth reflected in creation of economic opportunities in every sector – Finance Minister appeared first on News Room Guyana.
