Lenders Shackles

Country should free itself of lenders' shackles - Murray
By Johann Earle
Saturday, February 10th 2007

PNCR-IG Member of Parliament Winston Murray says that the National Budget continues to be pumped up by external funding and the country should free itself from the shackles of lenders.

He was speaking at the commencement of the Budget debate in the National Assembly yesterday. Murray, at the beginning of his presentation, congratulated the Minister of Finance on his inaugural budget presentation and on his "refreshing attitude."

Stating that the amount of foreign funding is in the vicinity of 35 per cent, Murray said that it was misleading for Government to take into consideration monies made available through loans or grants from the international financial institutions and to give the impression that the money was garnered through the Government's own means.

He said that the reliance on external borrowing is taking the development of Guyana out of the control of the people of this country.

"We have to address how we could [get] the private sector aboard on the sustainable growth and development of the country," Murray said.

He said that if the Government wanted to see development of the country then it would release its grip on the private sector. He said that the Government seems to revel in the confrontational stance with the private sector and mentioned the face-off between the President and the Pegasus Hotel and the Stabroek News ads brouhaha.

Turning to forestry, Murray pointed out that the Minister didn't give a breakdown of the increased exports in the sector for 2006. Murray posited that the bulk of the export trade in forestry has to be from logs.

Murray suggested that with a view to protecting the local wood manufacturing industry, certain species of logs be made available to producers before they can be exported.

He said that the economy is struggling to regain the momentum it had some years ago and with this he called for an update of the National Development Strategy. Murray referred to the Government's labelling of the 2007 Budget - Vision 2011 - as putting old wine in new bottles.

On sugar, the PNCR-1G MP said that the jury is still out on the Skeldon modernisation project. He said that it is yet to be determined if the production cost of US11 cents that the project is aiming to achieve on completion would be viable given the constraints in the sector.

He said that if the maximisation of profits is the aim of the sugar corporation in Guyana then the West Demerara estates are under definite threat of closure.

Murray feels that the tourism sector holds the key to unlocking Guyana's growth potential. He said that the tourism that he was talking about didn't include casino gambling. He feels that casino gambling didn't have any relevance to the development of the tourism sector.

On the macro economic front, Murray said that the yearly mantra of sound macro-economic stability has become a norm. But he said that this does not lead to growth of the economy and the country's development.

Murray noted that in the National Budget not a word was spoken about the Government's efforts to tackle corruption, although this was a talking point in the President's address to the commencement of the Ninth Parliament back in September.

With this, he said that there is an urgent need to set up the Public Procurement Commission with persons of unblemished professional character and impeccable qualifications to superintend public procurement. The commission has been stalled for a number of years. The PNCR-1G has argued that the ruling PPP/C has nominated persons who do not meet the criteria.

Murray said too that when the Head of the Presidential Secretariat makes his post-Cabinet contract announcements, the names of the awarded contractors should be announced together with the size of the contract and other details.

Murray called the Budget unrealistic and argued that it creates false expectations. He said that the country might have progressed in some areas, but that it also has retrogressed in others.

Murray said that the Government continues to show disregard for the rule of law in its ignoring of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act in the preparation of the 2007 National Budget.

Murray said that the estimates also lacked information on the number of authorised positions in the budget agencies and that this was complained about in the past to no avail.

He said that in addition to the information on authorised positions, information on the emoluments given to 'contract employees' should also be shown in the estimates. He said that this would be in keeping with transparency and accountability.

But he said that the Minister failed to comply with the law and the Constitution with the 2007 National Budget. He said that the Minister's failing with the budget breaks longstanding conventions and traditions that ensure transparency.

In response to the charges that Murray made, Prime Minister Sam Hinds said that the Government is looking to the time when it doesn't have to go begging to the international financial institutions. But he stated that the country is making progressive steps.

Citing the Berbice River Bridge, the Prime Minister said that this is an example of economic self reliance with the Government coming together with private investors on a public/private partnership. "We need to start doing more for ourselves and stop [complaining]," Hinds said.

On the economy, Hinds said that the Government will continue to advocate the primacy of a sound macro-economy. He charged that development is taking place and directed the naysayers to look at Sophia. He said that the Government is committed to improving the quality of life for all Guyanese.

Hinds also spoke of Government's commitment to reaching a major agreement with Bosai and RUSAL for development on several fronts - including secondary production and hydropower. He said that this should see the realisation of thousands of jobs.

StabroekNews