The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) is concerned about the negative impact the country’s political environment is having on the wider business community.
In a press release issued today, GCCI said that it conducted a survey which set out to gauge the effect of the political environment on businesses’ performance.
The organization said, “From the results, 64% of respondents (or about two in every three businesses) experienced some form of decline due to uncertainty over the state of political affairs in Guyana. For those businesses which registered a decline in activity, approximately 85 % experienced a 25% to 50% drop in the level of commercial activity. The remaining 15% experienced a 75% to 100% decline in business.”
While the GCCI provided percentages, it did not indicate how many businesses participated in the survey. When contacted by the Guyana Standard, President (ag) Deodat Indar refused to indicate the number of respondents and said that the release was “clear as is”. When informed that it was a matter of a simple clarification, he added that the release indicated the membership size of the organization – which was stated in the release as “over 240 business organizations which include micro and enterprise type levels located throughout the country and in the CARICOM region” – and that the survey was sent out to all members. However, he did not say how many of GCCI’s members actually participated in the survey and was quick to conclude the call with this entity’s reporter.
Nonetheless, the organization maintained in the release that the situation is one of concern.
“This significant decline in commercial activity is worrying and with the continued state of political uncertainty can result in further decline in economic activity,” GCCI said. It further said that the situation could have an impact on investors’ confidence, both local and foreign, and can affect business planning, budgeting, and other key features. “The Chamber remains hopeful that an environment which encourages investment prevails,” it said.
The Chamber added, “We, therefore, emphasize the need for national leaders to expediently resolve political issues that exist in order to restore and boost investors’ confidence, which would result in Guyana’s economy growing comfortably.”
