The government has successfully processed over 400 remigrant applications last year, which Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh expressed is a sign of the administration’s accomplishment to ensure Guyanese in the diaspora are meaningfully involved in the country’s development.
“This signifies a 9.8 percent increase over 2022. To further put this into context, the number of people who applied for remigrant status in 2023 were 68 percent higher than the figure for 2019,” he revealed.
The Finance Minister was at the time delivering his presentation of the 2024 national budget on Monday.
According to him, the government has been able to accomplish its promise of ensuring that the diaspora can be engaged in the country’s national development.
“This has been achieved through an improved remigrant scheme and regular dissemination of information to the Diaspora population while facilitating a range of interests and addressing concerns related to Guyana,” he noted.
Further, Dr Singh disclosed that over 15,000 passports were renewed for members of the diaspora, with over 2,000 second generation Guyanese registering for the first time for their Guyanese passport.
“…a clear signal of a heightened level of interest and engagement,” he expressed.
The Finance Minister reminded that last year, there were several outreaches to diaspora locations, coupled with webinars, conferences and other programmes that provided key information and updates to Guyanese.
Meanwhile, recognising the labour challenges affecting the country, the Finance Minister said the government intends to turn to the diaspora for help.
“In 2024, government will focus on the integration of diaspora skills to fill the labour gaps in the country where appropriate, and to provide guidance on new opportunities arising in all the sectors that might be of interest to the diaspora,” he emphasised.
In fact, he assured that the government will continue to monitor the labour market dynamics in the economy to ensure that “we are proactive in our interventions to ensuring that the labour supply does not hinder our competitiveness and remains responsive to our ever-expanding development needs.”
