A National Budget in a developing economy such as Guyana should be a microcosm of a five-year plan, which charts the way for structural changes to industrialize after a prolonged period of lopsided development characterized by primary production.It should also ask the question, ‘Where does the country stand in the stages of growth path (W. W. Rostow’s categorisation) and address specifically steps being taken to modernise the economy and overcome the most serious social problem afflicting the country – the scourge of high unemployment among its youths.’After fifty years of political independence, Guyana is still at the stage of not having satisfied the preconditions for sustained economic growth – the reasons for this are well known and could be the subject matter of several PhD dissertations on how myopic leadership could destroy a society. Does Singapore ring a bell? A cursory glance at the history of economic thought shows the following:1.?? ?Adam Smith and Ricardo’s theories of comparative advantage with resource endowment are no longer relevant as a strategy for Guyana’s economic development. Indeed, in spite of the country’s very rich forests and mineral resources, it remains an enigma as to why Guyana is still a very poor country by even the standard of Caribbean GDP – Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica.2.?? ?We now know that ‘’competitive advantage’’ (Michael Porter’s Competitive Advantage of Nations) is the new paradigm and very relevant to the course of action to be pursued by Guyana.What are the pre-conditions for sustained economic growth and has Minister Winston Jordan’s budget addressed them?Generally speaking, the achievement of preconditions for the take-off requires major changes in political and social structure and sometimes changes in cultural values. In Guyana’s case its political and social structures did change with the attainment of political independence and the spate of nationalisation that started five years after political independence.It has now devolved on President Granger, ably assisted by Finance Minister Winston Jordan as well as the National Resources Minister Trotman and other key ministers in the cabinet – Education, Social Cohesion and Communities- to chart the way forward towards the take-off stage into sustained economic growth.The Budget has addressed the economic transformation of the country by emphasising the need for well-trained human resource, and production transformation through the following initiatives:·?? ?The development of a National Youth Policy (NYP) with heavy emphasis on skills training across all ten administrative regions with special emphasis in the mining and forestry operations. This is backed by the allocation of several billion dollars to fund the training programmes.·?? ?Production transformation – emphasis on better management of the extraction sector,Jerseys From China, for example, in the case of forestry, emphasis on value-added activities, furniture manufacturing and builders’ joinery. It has been estimated that if 135,000m3 of logs that were exported in 2015 were converted to high value-added activities as aforementioned then 15,000 jobs would have been created – source: Vincente Molinos Report, 1995.·?? ?Emphasis on technological progress: it is apposite to mention here that two-thirds of the increase in National Income that occurred in the United States between 1870 and 1960 was primarily due to the immense technological progress that occurred during that era. Indeed, the Kaldor/Hicksian Model has stated that technical progress is equally important if not more than the rate of capital accumulation.In the National Budget Speech, Section 4.32,Wholesale Jerseys, the Government proposes to establish several research, training and extension facilities in such locations as Ebini, Hosororo, Manari and Bina Hill, to promote sustainable food production systems that can help maintain the ecosystem and strengthen the capacity for adaptation to climate change, drought, flooding and other disasters.·?? ?Agricultural Diversification and Modernisation of Sugar and Rice;”Guyana’s vision for agriculture by 2020 is to promote the sector as a wealth generator and entrepreneurial enterprise, producing food and non-food commodities to meet the needs of the country and our regional and international partners. Issues of national and regional food security mandate that we must diversify into new crops and open up new lands for agriculture in areas not prone to flooding.The promotion of non-traditional agriculture,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, aquaculture, and food processing, alongside the commodities that have traditionally dominated our agricultural landscape,John Gibson, must bear fruit in coming years. The Government,<a hr