Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 05, 2018 News
The state of the sugar industry and the declining economic growth rate dominated the discussions held between the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday.
The Union made this known in a statement it issued to the media fraternity yesterday.
GAWU said that the crucial meeting which was held at its Kingston Head Office was in keeping with the Fund’s annual Article IV exercise where it assesses the country’s economic situation after hearing from the Government and other stakeholders.
GAWU noted that the IMF was keen to hear about its views on the developments in the sugar industry.
The Union said, “We shared with them, the sad situation that is now playing out in many villages as thousands of workers have been put on the breadline following the closure of four sugar estates during the last two years.
“We lamented that the decisions to minimize the sugar industry was taken without any study to really assess the ramifications.”
GAWU told the IMF that had such an examination been properly conducted, and more so sincerely pursued, then the Government could have very well avoided the harshness of the situation today.
The Union also used the opportunity to share its concerns about the economy. It highlighted that Guyana had a 2.1 per cent growth rate in 2017 as against the IMF’s expected growth rate of 3.5 percent.
GAWU said that the significant gap between the two figures was indeed worrying. The Union noted that the IMF team explained that some sectors of the economy fell below expectations hence the less than anticipated economic growth.
GAWU said that it considered the engagement with the IMF to be fruitful.
“Our frank discussions, we believe, helped the team to have a better understanding of workers’ concerns and the situation in the sugar industry,” the Union concluded.
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