-IDB-Invest CEO says
Chief Executive Officer of IDB Invest James Scriven has credited a decisive shift in how the Government of Guyana engages the private sector as the key factor behind the country’s growing attractiveness to international investors and development financing.
The CEO shared this view during a recent interview on NCN alongside Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.
He explained that for years, it was hard to find projects in Guyana that were large or stable enough to attract serious funding.
According to Scriven, the real game-changer has been a fundamental shift in how the government handles the private sector.
“The biggest change in when I see business opportunities versus non- opportunities is the focus of governments on embracing the private sector for development purposes. I don’t have to list the countries, but you have countries that are not welcoming in that area, some countries are. And I would say that was a bigger shift. As a development institution and as a group, we focus a lot on creating the enabling environments for investments to happen. And that’s what I started seeing,” he noted.
Scriven said that it was this change in Guyana’s investment climate that made the country a more attractive venture for IDB-Invest.
Scriven emphasised that the institution is no longer looking at Guyana as a place for occasional projects but as a market where they intend to invest hundreds of millions of dollars on an annual basis.
The move toward a more diversified and resilient economy has allowed the bank to branch out into a wider variety of industries, including hospitality, agribusiness, telecommunications, and physical infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Dr Singh explained that this change is a direct result of the government’s policies being implemented. He said that this government recognises and understands its role in creating a conducive environment for investment.
“We have always been clear that long-term, resilient, sustainable economic growth can only be driven by private investment in viable, competitive projects,” he explained.
Dr Singh pointed out that in some instances the government was criticised for this strategy, and stressed that prioritising private investment does align with its mandate of ensuring the well-being of the Guyanese people.
“Pro-business policies are pro-people policies. Because ultimately what you want is to create an environment where people are economically empowered. And people are economically empowered when they’re able to take care of themselves on the basis of their own financial earnings, either through gainful and productive and fulfilling employment or similarly gainful and productive and fulfilling entrepreneurial opportunities,” the finance minister said.
He pointed out that the numbers also show how that Guyana is becoming an increasingly attractive arena for investment, explaining that transactions that once totaled only a few million dollars have skyrocketed to over 260 million dollars in a remarkably short period.
“Throughout the entire accumulated history of Guyana’s membership of IDB Invest, IDB Invest had only done about five or six million dollars worth of transactions in Guyana, up until August 2020. From August 2020, when President Ali assumed office, to date, after we re-engaged with IDB Invest, and we said to IDB Invest, ‘we want you to do more in Guyana’, IDB Invest has done more than 260 million US dollars worth of transactions.”