World Bank sees country escaping regional recession

GEORGETOWN (CMC):

GUYANA IS expected to see an overall economic growth of 51.7 per cent for this year, with further projections over the next two years.

The World Bank, in its recent semiannual report of the Latin America and Caribbean region titled The Economy in the Time of COVID-19, said the country will, in 2021 and 2022, see an 8.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent GDP growth, respectively.

The report stated that Guyana’s economy had expanded by some 4.7 per cent in 2019, with anticipated oil revenues spurring expansion in non-traded sectors. It said oil production is projected to boost the country’s GDP growth to an unprecedented level this year.

The report said, however, that while this could transform Guyana, there are risks as illustrated by a “still incomplete election outcome and compounded by falling oil prices and the COVID-19 epidemic. Weak public service delivery and monitoring systems constrain the development of policies to reduce poverty and protect the vulnerable”.

Guyana remains locked in an electoral disagreement more than one month after citizens went to the polls on March 2. Weeks of litigation have seen the process now returning to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

NATIONAL RECOUNT

A request for a national recount of the ballots cast in the national and regional elections by President David Granger last month is coming to bear, albeit without the “supervisory role”of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The president had sought the assistance of CARICOM through its chair, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, to have a team be present for a recount of the votes, which he said would end all speculations of fraud as purported by the political opposition.

That request was later challenged by private citizen Ulita Grace Moore and the Appeal Court subsequently ruled that the elections body should not allow any outside element to undertake its constitutionally mandated responsibility. The court, however, did not bar the recount.

GECOM is currently in the preparatory stages of the national recount.