PPP reverses into the future with COVID-19
Dear Editor,
APNU + AFC administration David Granger did well for the economy.
Even before the advent of the ‘First Oil’ analysis of the performance, the economy showed great prospects.
Rawle Lucas, comparing the early years of the Jagdeo and Granger economies, said: “For the former President, the measurement period was from 2001 to 2004. For the current President, it was from 2015 to 2018. In the first four years of Jagdeo’s administration, depressing performance of the economy. The economy’s highest growth rate was 1.9 percent. For Granger, the highest growth rate was 4.1 percent. Granger’s best performance was twice better than Jagdeo’s. The slowest growth rate under Granger was better than Jagdeo’s best rate. ”
Ceteris paribus, under normal circumstances there is a clear indication where the economy would have been going, from the good to the great. Even the Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, recently the Granger administration for two consecutive years – 2017 and 2018 – had not withdrawn money from the Consolidated Fund, an unprecedented financial feat by any Guyanese, perhaps from any regional government.
By mid-2019, more than a dozen oil well discoveries later, the NASDAQ declared Guyana “the fastest growing economy in the world” with the IMF declaring a growth rate of 86% in 2020.
Then COVID-19 occurred; nothing was normal yet. Gleaning from Juan Edghill’s Budget speech last September, the state newspaper reported projected growth of “48.4 percent to 51.2 percent by the end of this year. [2020]. “The same entity most recently stated:” Guyana continues to lead global economic growth, closing 2020 with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaging 26.2 percent. “
Our growth rate is being revised downwards. No one expects that, if anything, miracles will accompany an unprecedented period plague, and we do not need facades. Our people deserve the truth of what it will take to get us where we are as a nation. Guyana is not alone; there is no need to be ashamed, as we are resilient people.
In an international publication, Foreign Affairs, in a recent essay: “To Stop a Pandemic,” says Jennifer Nuzzo: “The novel Coronavirus struck a world that was uniquely unprepared. Without the ability to prevent the spread of the virus through targeted measures – namely, testing and tracking – few options were left to countries but closing their economies and ordering people to stay home. Those policies worked well enough to slow the growth of cases by late spring. But over the summer and into the fall, governments faced pressure to relax those restrictions, and cases arose. ”
We know the reality here in Guyana. The PPP / C favored the rapid reopening of the economy with the backing of soft enforcement of COVID-19 regulations, hoping to produce what Irfaan Ali called his New Year’s message, to the nation, the “springboard that our nation will leap to recovery. ”
However, a column, ‘Peeping Tom,’ recently introduced a dose of reality, citing a “trigger” that a metaphor could not be more inappropriate. It’s like saying that going into hospital will be the catalyst for recovery. Recovery is more crawling than leaping or sprinting. ”
Economically, like others, the nation does not see a sound strategy from the PPP / C. The National Assembly approved the COVID-19 package last September, highlighting the shortcomings in what the administration proposed. Even with recommendations, noting that the financial package needed more work, the government understandably rushed forward just to come back for supplemental approval for a budget for more COVID cash, and its classification is the definition of pig’s feet.
Earlier in approval, the announcement comes “a one-off cash grant of $ 25,000 each to all Public Sector employees, including those currently employed at GuySuCo” – amounts not given by the House , but could have been if the existing powers were to operate within an elementary policy framework.
In the vacuum comes the current ‘cake shop’ methodology; with three former Finance Ministers in government – this is incredible, even epic.
There is now a scramble to compose a team that can focus on delivering the COVID-19 vaccines. Some irrelevant bills, frankly speaking given the fierce urgency of the moment, have come before the National Assembly to come up with a robust legislative agenda promised by the government but consequent prescriptions are not as the proposed bill expressing ‘ The legal framework for the introduction of vaccines has yet to be introduced.
If the final long hiatus is any measure, we can look forward to reconvening the National Assembly in April. The PPP / C does not lead on, they return to the future.
Sherod Avery Duncan, MP.