Author: ChrisRam

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Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation racks up heavy losses; questions about where the income goes

Introduction
For several years I have drawn attention to the matter of annual reporting by the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation (CJIA), an entity established under the Public Corporations Act. I could not understand why the Audit Office which does the corporation’s audit, the Public Accounts Committee or someone, anyone, was not asking, nay demanding, that the law be complied with, with respect to the laying of accounts and reports in the National Assembly. So while there was incompetence on the part of Minister Robeson Benn who is the subject minister and of the Public Accounts Committee and the Audit Office, there was a question too whether the corporation did enough to counter speculation that it probably was unaware of its obligations under the act. It took them all more than a decade before the public was able to see for the first time any seemingly independent information on the corporation.

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On the Line: Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited Annual Report 2012

Introduction
Describing its 2012 performance as riding on the back of a growing economy, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited (GBTI) will be holding its Annual General Meeting for 2012 at its Kingston Office on Monday June 10 at 6 pm. Most of the numbers continue a very favourable trend and shareholders would no doubt be happy with the 25th anniversary report although this event has not earned any mention in the 90-page report.

Total assets increased by 17% in 2012 over 2011 while total loans and advances for the year increased by 47%. On the other side of the balance sheet, total shareholders’ funds increased by 20% while deposits increased by 16%. Net income before taxes increased over 2011 by 22% while after tax income has increased by 31%. The comparable percentage for 2011 over 2010 was 15% in each case.

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Written Submission to the Select Committee on the AML+CFT (Amendment) Bill 2013

Guyana’s managing of anti-money laundering activities has not been encouraging. A SN editorial to mark the third anniversary of the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act 2000 since its enactment described it as a “bear in hibernation”. Yet, the list of persons who pronounced on the Act at various stages included then Finance Minister Sasenarine Kowlessar who after the act’s assent announced that no decision had been made as to who would supervise the act; then President Jagdeo, who one year after the act was passed said no funds had been budgeted for its implementation; then Director of Budget Dr. Ashni Singh who pronounced that “money-laundering could have significant influence on currencies, market prices and financial stability”; then Home Affairs Minister Gajraj who in discussing money-laundering spoke of non-working millionaires and the “Siamese twins of the narcotics scourge”; his successor Ms Gail Teixeira who called on consumers to boycott drug lords’ businesses; and Commissioner General Khurshid Sattaur who had announced that GRA’s software would pinpoint money launderers.

Not only did such high level politicians and executives address their minds to money-laundering, the Cabinet in 2001 established a special task force under Dr Roger Luncheon to oversee the implementation of the Act. The report of that special task force, even if not updated, can help to accelerate the work of the Select Committee.
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The rise of inequality

Introduction
This article draws heavily on a commentary in Ram & McRae’s 2013 Budget Focus. One of the issues identified in the segment of the commentary dealing with inequality, a companion of poverty, is a National Minimum Wage for Guyana. Since then, the Minister of Labour announced a National Minimum Wage for the private sector of $35,000 per month, $8,000 per week or $200 per hour. I have not seen the report of the committee appointed by the Minister of Labour which made the recommendation, but it would be interesting to learn of the statistical, economic and social factors that could inform the anomaly of a private sector minimum wage that is considerably lower than the public sector minimum wage.

Another issue dealt with in the commentary was education and its relevance to poverty. Well, in an ironic twist, in what is now more than a rumour, a senior government official is selling their Pradoville 2 house for more than two hundred million dollars, an example of inequality whereby land belonging to a poor community can be expropriated and handed out to the politically powerful to be enriched.

It is not that inequality is a uniquely Guyanese phenomenon. In fact, a couple of years ago, four then famous and powerful men ‒ Hu Jintao, David Cameron, Warren Buffett and Dominique Strauss-Kahn – who would not usually have a lot in common, were all worrying and warning loudly about the dangers of a rising gap between the rich and the rest. Mr Hu put the reduction of income disparities, particularly between China’s urban elites and its rural poor, at the centre of his pledge to create a “harmonious society.” Mr Cameron said that more unequal societies do worse “according to almost every quality-of-life indicator.” Mr Buffett, one of the world’s richest men, has become a crusader for a higher inheritance tax, arguing that America risks an entrenched plutocracy without it. And Mr Strauss-Kahn argues for a new global growth model, claiming that gaping income gaps threaten social and economic stability. Mr Buffett may be surprised to learn that we abolished our inheritance tax, which we called estate duty, as a form or economic recovery.

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