Financing, education biggest hurdles facing private sector - GMSA

Financing, education biggest hurdles
facing private sector - GMSA
Kaieteur News, 8 November 2007
The days of monopolies are over and Guyana 's private sector should
support competitive practices if this country is to move forward.

In a message last Friday during the annual awards ceremony of the
Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) President, Mohabir
Singh stressed that access to finance and education and training as the
biggest hurdles facing the private sector industries.

“It is essential for the private sector to support competitive
practices in the economy as a whole. The days of infant industry
protection and monopolistic practices are over. An important IDB-funded
information technology project which will benefit the whole of Guyana
has been put on hold because of an objection raised by one of the
stakeholders in the sector who holds a monopoly in the IT sector,”
Singh disclosed.

According to the GMSA official, six key sectors have been identified to
fast track employment opportunities- including garment,
agro-processing, wood-processing, information technology and the
hospitality sector.

“We are of the view that the administration has been pursuing the right
policies and challenging the private sector to take the lead role in
the diversification and structural changes that are required in the
economy,” Singh noted.

He noted, however, that there are challenges facing the private sector.
In the area of education, he opined, Guyana can do well by utilizing
the facilities of the Government Technical Institutes from Anna Regina
to Linden to Crabwood Creek and the two university campus of UG.

“Significant technical assistances are available from the EU, GTIS, and
CIDA. Crucial changes are required at UG in order to facilitate some of
the essential skills required in the areas of industrial engineering,
pure and applied sciences and wood science technology,” Singh pointed
out.

With regards to finance for small businesses – which is being currently
addressed between the private sector and the Bankers' Association- the
President noted that every society beginning from the Industrial
Revolution to the achievement of the Asian Tiger has had suitable
financial intermediation to provide suitable financial packages.

“We are confident that the lines of credit that could be made available
from the private sector window of the CDB as well as the Caribbean
Trade Support Programme (CTS) could be channeled through our commercial
banks and would go some distance to fill this dire need.”

With the EU spending “significant sums over the past years to provide
institutional support to the Private Sector Commission”, Singh
questioned whether the mandate in the areas of investment promotion,
marketing and strategic links between local and overseas firms,
especially in the areas of technology transfer and equity financing,
has been achieved.

The businessman urged upgrading and expanding of firms' capacities to
supply the vast amount of goods and services required in regional
market.

“The recent statement by the Forest Products Association through its
consultant that its members would be greatly inconvenienced and shut
down its members is to be regretted as it illustrates a desire not to
want to upgrade and to bring an industry that is at least thirty years
behind time.”

Every single recommendation by the Guyana Forestry Commission for the
upgrading of this industry has been in several reports beginning with
the World Bank Report on the Economic Development of British Guiana
1953 to the Vincente Molinos 1995 and the latest ITTO Report May 2004.

“The industry suffers from technological obsolescence and has not shown
a desire to change. This is a bad example for the Guyana private
sector. We in the GMSA stand ready to help to provide information on
access to finance and appropriate technology if our assistance is
needed,” Singh argued.