WELCOME TO GUYANA, PRESIDENT ALI TELLS INVESTORS

GUYANESE President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s open-door welcome to investors is playing well throughout the region.

Prospective investors are said to be heartened by Dr. Ali’s ringing endorsement and invitation to enter the Guyanese marketplace.

“Guyana is open to investment and has a very friendly investment environment,” the President told the third Caribbean Investment Forum in Georgetown.

He noted that the country “offers generous and favourable fiscal incentives” and has an open foreign currency market, low inflation, and a stable financial system.

President Ali stressed that investors are permitted “unbridled repatriation” of their profits.

Independent investigation found that Guyana is the region’s top recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said in its latest report that Guyana has “the highest growth” in investments.

The United States Department of State said Guyana “is quickly transforming into a regional destination for international investment.”

While there are extensive investments in the oil and gas sectors, there have also been FDIs in agriculture, business support services, health, information technology, manufacturing, and other industries.

There have been concerns about the pace of the State bureaucracy, but President Ali told the conference that a single window platform has been launched to speed up approvals for construction permits.

“The system was bureaucratic,” he stated, and riddled with bias and interference.

The single window system is “rules-based and holds stakeholders accountable,” he added.

That system has been implemented in various other Caribbean countries, and has improved the Ease of Doing Business, a World Bank metric.

President Ali outlined several sectors available for investments and urged the regional private sector to enter the country.

He noted that an annual average investment of US $373 billion is required only in the water and sanitation sector.

In infrastructure, US $256 billion is needed, he stated.

There is also a focus on developing social services.

Various international business and finance experts have hailed the FDI opportunities in Guyana, which are the results of the oil and gas bonanza, political stability, and other factors.

FDI Intelligence organisation said that Guyana has “magnetised significant foreign direct investment to the country.”

President Ali has repeatedly stressed on diversifying the economy, which offers bountiful opportunities for investors.

He pitched the message at the start of the three-day CIF, which attracted a large number of international and regional business leaders.

There are opportunities “in every sector,” he stressed, and described the country as an investor’s paradise.