Dear Editor,
The headlines shouting about Guyana’s future since the oil discoveries in 2015 are the stuff dreams are made of “The IMF thinks this small South American country will see economic growth of 86% next year”, and were taken as gospel by a gullible population; words of caution and terms such as ‘Dutch disease’ were dismissed as “gloom and doom”. Guyana is ten days away from the beginning of its fifty-fifth year as an independent nation; there can be little cause for celebrations as we will enter as among the poorest in the world. We have been laid low by a combination of Granger, COVID-19, and elections.
The Granger Administration’s inability to read and understand words that “require no gloss” extends well beyond the Constitution. In 2018 the International Monetary Fund’s Guyana: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2018 Article IV Mission said “Guyana’s medium-term prospects are favourable. The commencement of oil production in 2020 will be a turning point. The main direct effect on the domestic economy will be through higher fiscal revenue and spillovers to supporting activities. The balance of payments will swing sharply to positive after 2020. Oil revenue significantly improves the fiscal outlook, and is expected to place the public debt on a downward trajectory” warnings that this was a terrible sign that the dreaded ‘Dutch disease’ had overtaken us before a drop of oil had been produced were ignored. The damage done to the traditional economy coupled with the bankruptcy of the treasury by Granger and his cohorts will not be easily repaired. Oil is selling for less than the cost of production with no answer as to who will pick up the deficit. An entire generation of Guyanese does not know what it is like to live in a heavily indebted poor country. Sadly, they are about to find out.
Granger has resorted to his tactical silence to cover the fact that he has no clue as to what the questions for our nation’s future are let alone solutions. Granger, however, continues to cling to power after losing the General and Regional Elections; this too is having a detrimental effect on the economy. Without a recognised Government in place, Guyana has been fobbed off by the international financial agencies; while a fund of US$160 billion is available to the legitimate countries of the world, Guyana is treated to scraps from the aid table. Countries with more robust economies than ours have attracted billions in loans, grants, and aid, while we have been given a few hundred thousand dollars in subsistence aid.
Our productive sector is crippled by COVID-19 and our vulnerable population is without assistance from the central Government. As parents look desperately at hungry children, Guyanese are responding admirably as our brother’s keepers, but the strain is becoming apparent and cracks are widening, soon many will start falling through. Granger hardly ventures from his expansive adobe in Pearl and is unbothered by the ever-increasing plight of lower-income citizens. Guyanese can only hope that when a legitimate Government is installed, that the world’s great financial institutions will ‘process’ our applications for assistance expeditiously and that there is some ‘corn’ left in the bucket to ‘share’ with our nation.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh
