Page 2 - News Letter 2018 1 Revised.cdr

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The Annual General Meeting (AGM) for

the Year 2017-2018 and the new Executive

“We are at an important stage in our own manufacturing process and we are being asked to quickly
meet international standards...."

he Guyana Manufacturing and Services year mark, according to the Bank of Guyana, was 2.9%
Association (GMSA) hosted its Annual General compared with the 3.8% projected at the beginning of
TMeeting at Pegasus Hotel on March 28th, 2018 2017 and that the overall downward trend in
with over 64 GMSA members in attendance. performance for the last few years in almost all the
productive sectors continued in 2017. As it regards the
The AGM took on a difference format compared to manufacturing sector, Mr. Nokta informed that at the
previous years with an opening session where there halfway mark, June 2017, light manufacturing had
were special invitees. Principal among them were marginally grown by 1.3% from a projected 1.9% and
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon who was the keynote according to budget 2018, the manufacturing sector is
speaker, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin, High projected to have a 2.4 percent growth in 2018.
Commissioner of Canada, Lilian Chatterjee, other
representatives from the diplomatic community, as well According to the GMSA President, notwithstanding the
as leaders from the private sector including PSC projections of marginal growth - key barriers to the
Chairman Eddie Boyer. manufacturing sector continued to prevail. He stated
that many of the barriers to growth are not new – barriers
GMSA President Shyam Nokta, in his address indicated such as tax measures, access to nance, market access
that the new Board, at its rst meeting in April 2017, set and trade facilitation, procurement, and high cost and
out its priorities for the year and identied four major unstable energy supply.
focus areas - consolidating and expanding membership;
improving governance and administration; improving Mr. Nokta went on to point out that the organization
information and communication with members; and recognised the need to have a sustained intervention on
facilitating and addressing members issues. According these barriers and the need to engage with Government
to the GMSA President, the organisation has made and to do so through a strategic approach. He indicated
progress in all of these areas and the prole of the GMSA that a keynote activity in this regard has been the
has been elevated. mechanism of the Ministerial Roundtable with the
Minister of Finance and team and which adopted a
In reecting on the economy's performance, Mr. Nokta sector by sector focus with the rst sector being Forestry
pointed out that actual GDP growth for 2017, at the half and Wood-processing and for which a Joint Technical

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