Family Economic History

Family Economic History

            The economy of Guyana made a lot of progress after the Hoyte, who was the president in 1989, brought an economic recovery program to the country. The economic recovery program that was brought to Guyana was aimed at improving the economy. As a result, in the year 1991, the GDP of Guyana increased by six percent following 15 years of decline. In the year 1995, the GDP had grown over six percent, but in that year it started falling to 5.1 percent. The report of 1996 from the government stated that the economy had risen with a rate of 7.9 percent, in 1997 it has dropped again to 6.2 percent, and then in 1998 it fell drastically to 1.3 percent.             1999 it grew by three percent. In 2006, the GDP was at 3.2%.

With the help of both the international monetary fund and the world bank, the economic recovery program started reducing the role of the Guyana economy to the government. It helped the economy by encouraging the foreign investment; it then gave the government time to reduce the arrears on repayment of the loan to the multilateral banks and international government, and that brought the sale of 15 parastatal of the government out of 41. That also brought the cellphone company and the assets in the fishing industries, timber, and rice to be privatized (Kumar, 2013). To manage the large companies of sugar, the international corporation was employed to take over and manage. Some of the companies that were controlled by the corporation included the bauxite and GuySuCo. Bauxite mine was opened by a company in America.

Several price-controlled were removed, mining laws and the exploration of the law were improved, and there came an announcement of foreign investment. To promote export and production of agriculture, a tax reformed was endorsed in the private sector. In Guyana, the most important economic activities are rice, bauxite, sugar, and gold results in about 70-75 of the earning from export. But, in the year 2000, rice earning dropped. The value of commodities such as the garments, pharmaceuticals, timber, rum, and diamond is representing eleven percent of the export earnings in 2000. Since the year 1986 to the present date, Guyana has been able to get a whole wheat supply from the United States through the term of concessional under a program PL 480 Food for peace. The amount is done based on a grant.

The currency Guyanese that is received from the wheat sale is used for a specific task that is agreed by both the nations of the United States and Guyana. Unlike the past years, Guyana had no debt, but currently, Guyana is indebted, which has made the current government make the burden of debt as one of their priorities. In 1999, with the heavily indebted developing countries and the Paris club, Lyons termed initiative the country was able to be forgiven of a debt, which was $256 million. In 2007, inter- American Development Bank also, canceled $470 million debt in qualifying for the assistance of the heavily indebted developing country, Guyana was able to reduce the debt which was in multilateral (Smith, 2014). The indebtedness of Guyana is about a half that is owed to the multilateral development banks and to the Trinidad and Tobago, which are its neighbors about 20%, which up to 1986 was the leading supplier of products of petroleum. The debt that the U.S government owed them at that time was forgiven; unlike today, they had a debt with the U.S. In 1999, the net international reserve was at $123.2 million (Trotz, 2001). However, net international reserves have rebounded to 174$ million currently. Unlike in the past, the Guyana debt, which is high, has brought burden to the foreign creditors now, which has reduced the presence of foreign exchange and lowering of the import capacity of equipment, raw materials, and spare part hence, reducing the production. But in the past, the debt was not a problem for the foreigners to come and invest. The global fuel cost increase has brought to the production decline and deficit trade growing, which has brought with it unemployment.

In recent years, the economy has grown unlike in the past due to agriculture and industries. The product which is exported now is the same as those shipped in the past years, which include bauxite, sugar, shrimp, rice, timber, and gold, which contribute to 60% of the economy. The contrast is that in 2018, it was estimated that 3.2 billion barrels of oil were discovered in the offshore that makes Guyana start the production of petroleum by March 2020. Inflation has been controlled in recent years, and thus the stock of debt of the government reduced significantly than what it was in the year 1990s.

The economic condition of Guyana was Emigration, which was principal to Canada and the U.S., which remains substantial.  The Emigration net of 1998 was approximated to be about 1.4 percentage of the population while the figure totaled 1.2 percent in 1999. After years of the country dominated economy, domestic or foreign and private investment are still evolving. In the past, the shift from an economy controlled economy to a system of mixed economy stated under Desmond Hoyte and went on in the PPP government. Currently, the administration of PPP recognizes the need for foreign investment to generate products for export, to create jobs, and enhance technical capabilities. In 1991, the foreign exchange market was liberalized fully, which makes the currency to be traded without any restriction freely. Currently, the Guyana dollar has fallen from 17.6% from 1998 due to the post-election period.

The decision from the ancestors that have affected the Guyana economy is that of supporting the American ambassador public declaration that of ignoring the decision of Guyana cabinet of ministers. They avoided the principle of national sovereignty and non- interference in the internal affairs of the country. They would have learned that no foreign diplomat can challenge the authority of the democratically elected government.

Reference

Trotz, D. A., & Peake, L. (2001). Work, family, and organizing: An overview of the contemporary economic, social, and political roles of women in Guyana. Social and economic studies, 67-101.

Kumar, R. R. (2013). Remittances and economic growth: A study of Guyana. Economic Systems, 37(3), 462-472.

Smith, R. T. (2014). The matrifocal family: Power, pluralism, and politics. Routledge.