Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh on Friday, while welcoming the new Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) General Manager for the Caribbean Country Department (CCB), Mr. Anton Edmunds, also lauded the Bank for its continued support to Guyana through its efforts to partner with this country in terms of development in both the public and private sectors.
“We are using this period to make the strategic investments that are necessary to ensure that in the medium to longer term Guyana is not an economy that is solely dependent on oil,” Minister Singh reiterated, adding that this period is being used by Government ‘to invest in things like infrastructure to improve connectivity with our neighbours, increase the economic space in which we are operating, and therefore lay the foundation for more trade.”
Government holds lead responsibility for food security in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Region and Dr. Singh added that any support to this country to fast-track this will also allow for the development of two other interlinked areas in the Region, such as transport as well as improvement in trade and commerce.
Guyana is currently working to also improve trade links with its South American neighbours Suriname and Brazil through its efforts to complete a road to Brazil and construction of a Bridge over the Corentyne River to Suriname.
Recently, the Board of Directors of the IDB approved a new Country Strategy with Guyana for the period 2023-2026 focused on resilient infrastructure, human capital development, with an emphasis on improving health and education outcomes and social services, and strengthening institutional capacity. The new Strategy also supports Guyana to implement the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and its decarbonization objectives.
Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh on Friday, while welcoming the new Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) General Manager for the Caribbean Country Department (CCB), Mr. Anton Edmunds, also lauded the Bank for its continued support to Guyana through its efforts to partner with this country in terms of development in both the public and private sectors.
