The government today rebuffed criticisms yesterday from the private sector about the state of the economy and charged that it has ” mounted the bandwagon of negative forces that are determined to resist legal and structural changes that are aimed at improving the investment and business environment in Guyana”.

A statement from the Government of Guyana follows:

The Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana notes without any surprise the statement issued by the Private Sector Commission (PSC) purportedly about the state of Guyana’s economy.

The PSC statement was obviously timed to coincide with Guyana’s hosting of the 28th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of the Heads of Government of CARICOM and is a thinly veiled attempt to embarrass and discredit the Coalition Government. Rather than sharing in the pride that Guyana is a stable democracy that enjoys full respect for business and security for investment, the PSC yields to its political handlers in attempting to be a spoiler.

The Government of Guyana deems it rather shameful that the PSC has allowed itself to be used as a political stool pigeon to repeat the propagandistic chatter of the opposition and to seek to undermine confidence in our economy and good governance.

The PSC has further eroded its credibility as an independent private sector umbrella body for havingremained silent during protracted periods of violent crime sprees, the descent of Guyana into a narco-economy and obscene levels of corruption under the former discredited and corrupt government with which several of its leaders were and continue to be associated.

It should not surprise anyone that the PSC would not even grudgingly admit that since the change of Government in 2015, Guyana has embarked on a challenging task of restoring confidence in governance and repairing the country’s tattered international image.

Slowly, as pointed out in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom, Guyana is climbing the ladder of credibility for reducing corruption and protecting the integrity of the nation in all areas of governance. Guyana has gained 3.1 points to move to 58.5 points and is now at 106, ideally positioned to break into the top 100.

Additionally, Guyana has moved up 16 places to 124th on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index. This represents a significant improvement from 2015 to 2016 yet there has not even been a fleeting acknowledgement by the PSC.

On the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, Guyana has gained an unprecedented 5 points, moving from 29 in 2015 to 34 in 2016. It is noteworthy that in the last year of the PPP administration Guyana’s score fell from 30 to 29 between 2014 and 2015 yet the PSC was silent.

It is pathetic that the PSC has mounted the bandwagon of negative forces that are determined to resist legal and structural changes that are aimed at improving the investment and business environment in Guyana as we continue to show positive signs of development and progress.