By MOHAMED HAMALUDIN
The United States should provide more aid to the countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to avoid an influx of refugees from the region. That warning has come from the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne. The U.S. must “pay more attention to the Caribbean region in helping us to maintain our standard of living to avoid any mass movement of people,” he said. The alternative would be that “they’ll end up on the shores of the United States as refugees,” Browne told the Reuters news agency in a Jan. 25 interview.
Caribbean countries are saddled with debts sometimes equivalent to 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and are having to rely on loans offered on favorable terms by Chinese banks, Browne told Reuters reporter Brian Ellsworth. Such loans have totaled more than $4 billion in the past 10 years, with much of the funds going to infrastructure development, Ellsworth reported, citing figures from the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. Browne said that the Chinese loans are provided on more favorable terms than those from agencies such as the International Monetary Fund but that should not be interpreted as a political statement. Continue reading
GUYANA: Budget 2022 – Flattering To Deceive – commentary
The new budget is a good exercise in mathematics with lots of numbers thrown about either to impress Guyanese or to pull the wool over their eyes. There are percentages, statistics, comparisons and, of course, billions bandied about. We struggle to understand how Guyanese who still have their head on could take seriously and thankfully what the PPP/C Government put forward as the 2022 budget.
Comparatively speaking, this year’s budget is almost double that of last year’s with a staggering 43.4 percent increase. Similarly, national growth is forecasted to be 47.5 percent, also a fantastic number. It gives the impression that Guyana is on the move, and one where the man-in-the-street is the early beneficiary of this country’s oil wealth embedded in what is now fashionable to call the oil budget. As usual, truth is the first casualty of political scoundrels, long versed in couching serious matters in numbers that are supposed to inspire confidence, but fall short of that particular objective. Continue reading →
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