Guyanese would do well to make the needed investments to develop the skills required to advance the sectors that are booming and moving apace in the country.
This is according to businessman Vishnu Doerga, who serves as the Chairman of the Suriname- Guyana Chamber of Commerce.
He shared these sentiments as he spoke at the 2024 mid-year report released recently by the Ministry of Finance.
According to that report, Guyana’s manufacturing sector is estimated to have grown by 27.5 per cent in the first half of this year, and Doerga spoke about some of the measures that can help Guyanese contribute to further progress in the country’s economy.
He is among those who believe the manufacturing sector is filled with abundant opportunities. But first, Doerga said Guyanese manufacturers should get better at acquiring developmental financing that allows them to invest in the machinery and technology that can help them convert abundant raw materials into finished products.
“Guyana has been known for decades for exporting raw materials, so in the future, it would be good to analyse how we can process some of these raw materials to take care of our own needs.
“It’s not the easiest thing to do, but we as Guyanese need to pay attention to how we can add more value and cut down on our imports,” he shared.
Good infrastructure, good manufacturing capacity, and an educated workforce should be made priorities, he opined, so that all Guyanese, irrespective of their background, can earn well.
“We have to ensure we have infrastructure in place that can alleviate some of the drought and flooding conditions that countries like us experience,” he pointed out.
Within the manufacturing sector, the report detailed the economic performance of some subsector.
Rice manufacturing, for example, grew by 22.7 per cent, which offset the 60.4 per cent contraction observed for sugar manufacturing.
Considering the first-half performance, the manufacturing sector is now projected to grow by 14.5 percent this year.
Meanwhile, the services sector is estimated to have grown by 7.3 per cent in the first half of the year, driven largely by growth in administrative and support services, financial and insurance activities, transport and storage, professional, scientific, and technical services, and wholesale and retail trade.
These subsectors grew by 10.4 per cent, 11 per cent, 9.4 per cent, 53 per cent, and 4.1 per cent, respectively.
The expansion in the administration and support services subsector continues to be driven by an increase in the demand for security services and other support activities. In the
transport and storage subsector, growth was driven by increased transport activities at ports, for both passengers and cargo, and growth in land freight which is supported by increased
construction, and wholesale and retail trade.
The services sector is now projected to grow by 7.7 per cent in 2024, above the 6.9 per cent projected at the time of preparing Budget 2024.
