GEORGETOWN: Guyana’s economy slipped for the first half of this year, but Finance Minister Winston Jordan says he believes “things will pick up by December”.
The mid-year report released by the Ministry of Finance showed the economy had declined 2.5 per cent in the first half of 2015 when compared to the same period in 2014.
The country recorded real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 0.7 percent in the first half of 2015, down from the recorded overall growth of 3.2 percent in real GDP in the first six months of 2014.
The 2015 decline, the report noted, was mainly driven by the delay in the presentation and passage of the National Budget, due to the Parliament being prorogued in November 2014, its dissolution in 2015, and elections being held in May 2015.
“This delay meant that many government agencies were unable to carry out their planned programmes for the year. Many projects were held in abeyance, while only a few projects which were rolled over from the previous year attracted funding. At the same time, the atmosphere of uncertainty and tensions surrounding the holding of general elections, led to investors postponing decision in many cases,” the report stated.
It noted that with a new government in place and the passage of the National Budget, growth is expected to surge in the second half of the year, projected to reach 3.4 percent, as a result of the measures outlined in Budget 2015.
“Things appear to be picking up based on some amount of statistical evidence and some anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal in the sense that in speaking to the average man in the street, the taxi driver and so on, they have been telling me that things are picking up, they are not saying business is good, but they are saying things better than a month or two before,” Minister Jordan said.
“I think . . . we can expect things to be more and more on track as we had envisaged in the budget.”
According to a World Bank overview of Guyana which was last updated on September 8, 2015, real growth of Guyana’s GDP is projected to fluctuate within the range of 3 percent to 5 percent during 2015-2018.
Economic activities will be driven by continued investments in primary industries while potential offshore and hydro-energy projects may also attract foreign investment and further boost growth.
Inflation is expected to remain relatively subdued.
