…GO-Invest to target $154B in investments next year
Work on the Lethem and Belvedere Industrial Estates will continue into 2018, and an allocation of $350 million has been made for the completion of works, during the same year.
This was highlighted by Minister of Finance Winston Jordan during his 2018 Budget presentation on Monday. The minister noted that these estates are expected to have a combined capacity of about 250 plots to facilitate value-added production while benefiting from economies of scale.
The Ministry of Business has responsibility for industrial estates at Lethem, Belvedere, Eccles, and Coldingen. The latter two have a combined total of 120 developed plots which houses close to 60 developed estates providing jobs for about 4,000 Guyanese. The main industries are wood-processing, cement and block-making, food processing, fish processing, furniture manufacturing, metal fabrication and pharmaceuticals.
In the 2016 Budget, $212M was allocated for the development and repair of the industrial estates at Belvedere and Lethem.
GO-Invest
In 2018, GO-Invest anticipates investments of $154B, that will create about 5,725 jobs. In addition, GO-Invest will be hosting the first ever Guyana Trade and Investment Exposition, aimed at promoting collaboration between private sector actors towards knowledge sharing and creating business partnerships.
The Office anticipates up to 75 businesses participating in the Exposition, in April, 2018 and the updating of the National Export and Investment Strategy will commence in the New Year.
Minister Jordan also highlighted that the Guyana Office for Investment (GO-Invest) facilitated almost $23 billion in investments, which, over time, will create over 970 jobs across various sectors, including services, agriculture and energy.
GNBS
The Finance Minister said in order to support the export competitiveness strategy, the sum of $200 million has been allocated for 2018, to improve the national quality infrastructure. Enforcement of quality standards will guarantee that all exports leaving Guyana meet the international criteria to be sold on the world markets.
To this end, work will commence on pursuing accreditation of the existing laboratory facilities and to strengthen the capacity of the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS). (DPI)
