The Opposition, A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) in a blistering critique of the Government’s management of the economy slams the “PPP’s frequent boastful assertion that progress is measured by the size of budgets.” According to the Opposition economic progress is not measured by the size of budgets, or the number of ribbons cut, or the number of temporary jobs concocted. “As a serious and caring government, we will measure progress by how high people’s quality of life is and how satisfied they feel. For us, no other measurement matters.”
The Opposition has countered with a proposal what they will do should they be elected to government. Among the proposal include maximizing the revenues the country earns from our vast oil resources; reducing financial waste, inefficiencies, and corruption in government spending; creating a dynamic and supportive environment for the prospering of small businesses; expanding the non-oil economy; and building infrastructure not just for maintenance or replacement
The full statement follows:
VAST CONTRAST BETWEEN APNU’s and PPP’s APPROACH TO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Last week, VP Bharrat Jagdeo made a desperate effort to challenge the fact that APNU has a development strategy for Guyana. He, of course, conveniently ignored the reality that over the past two years, month and month, the APNU coalition has been speaking about how it intends to transform the quality of life of Guyanese—the ultimate development goal of the serious and caring government we intend to be. Let’s summarize our ideas.
Firstly, people are first and at the centre of our development vision. We see this i) as our moral obligation as a government to the people of Guyana, ii) as the inalienable human rights of citizens to a high quality of life, and iii) as vital for national social and economic growth and development.
We therefore totally reject the PPP’s frequent boastful assertion that progress is measured by the size of budgets, or the number of ribbons cut, or the number of temporary jobs concocted. As a serious and caring government, we will measure progress by how high people’s quality of life is and how satisfied they feel. For us, no other measurement matters.
As a government, our ultimate objective will be to guarantee A LIVABLE INCOME FOR ALL HOUSEHOLDS, regardless of size, composition, economic circumstance, or location. We will guarantee a livable income by well-designed policies such as on job creation, living wages, wealth creation such as small business development, and a comprehensive social protection system (including family support and child care, adequate pensions and elderly care, subsidies and waivers such as on mortgages, rents and utilities, and the guaranteeing of food and nutrition security). We believe we can realise this vision in a matter of a few years – not in the vague and uncertain future the PPP is promising.
In our people-centred development strategy, people will not only share in the country’s economic prosperity, they will also enjoy their full social and political rights, safe communities, easy access to justice, high-quality health and education, a clean and pleasant environment, and good governance, among other rights and aspirations. But let’s talk for now about guaranteeing each household a livable income and a high living standard.
To realize and sustain such a vision for present and future generations of Guyanese, we fully recognise that we must create a robust economy. In this regard, our main areas of focus will be, among others:
1) MAXIMIZING THE REVENUES THE COUNTRY EARNS FROM OUR VAST OIL RESOURCES. In this regard, we, as a government, will work towards implementing a more reasonably phased oil extraction rate to increase profit oil more quickly; better PSA contract terms for existing projects; robust audits and monitoring of oil companies to get our full share of revenue; and a prudent NRF financial investment strategy (such as Norway’s).
2) REDUCING FINANCIAL WASTE, INEFFICIENCIES, AND CORRUPTION IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING. It is no secret that Guyana can save and benefit more from every dollar spent. Currently, Guyana benefits less than 50% from every dollar the government spends. It means that for every 1% improvement, we can gain 4 to 5 billion dollars to spend on the welfare of citizens. We will improve efficiency in government expenditure as high as 70 to 80% in the first few years of government, saving $200 billion and more each year.
3) EXPANDING THE NON-OIL ECONOMY to increase exports and reduce imports through the development of economic activities where Guyana has or can create a competitive or natural advantage. Examples include the mining of traditional and non-traditional minerals (such as a wider range of bauxite products, copper, Rare Earths, and other strategic minerals); the commercialization of non-traditional crops (such as corn and soya); the expansion of the rice, fishery and other industries with the scope for growth, and value-added production.
To expand the non-oil economy, we will remove the obstacles and frustrations of doing business in Guyana, such as the high cost of electricity, sluggish government bureaucracy, rampant corruption, difficulty in accessing cheap land, difficulty in accessing credit, and unskilled labour force.
4) BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE NOT JUST FOR MAINTENANCE OR REPLACEMENT (as currently the case with the PPP’s haphazard approach), BUT FOR EXPANDING AND TRANSFORMING THE ECONOMY in a planned manner. We will be looking at coast-to-hinterland roads, inter-hinterland roads, a network of medium-sized hydroelectricity stations and solar farms, country-wide Internet access, among other ideas. We will be looking towards improving access to new agriculture lands and mineral and forestry resources, and creating new economic hubs away from the coast.
5) CREATING A DYNAMIC AND SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PROSPERING OF SMALL BUSINESSES. We will expand the micro and small business sector to contribute substantially to creating a vibrant urban and rural economy, raising living standards, and creating wealth and employment. Success on this front will require, as an absolute necessity, that Guyanese have enough income to be entrepreneurs, investors and consumers. As a government, we will so ensure.
Our national development plan will be fully designed and managed by a team of economic planners within a proposed Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. In our coalition government, there will be no PPP-styled one-man show grasping at basic and patchy knowledge of economics. WE ARE CONFIDENT WE CAN MAKE GUYANA ONE OF BEST COUNTRIES TO LIVE IN FOR ALL.
