Macroeconomic resilience wasn’t an accident – it was a choice under PPP/C’s stewardship

Dear Editor,
• Household disposable income surged sixfold under PPP/C (2021–2025), from ≈GY$41,600 to ≈GY$250,000/month.
• Value Added Tax burden fell from ~30% of income under APNU+AFC to ~9% under PPP/C.
• Guyana’s net foreign assets reached ≈US$4.7B in 2024, with over 8 months of import cover.
• PPP/C maintained near 1:1 reserves-to-expenditure discipline; APNU+AFC fell to 0.2.
• Governance reset: Audit implementation rose from ~32% under APNU+AFC to ~85% under PPP/C.
When people talk about Guyana’s economy today, the word ‘oil’ almost always comes first. Oil is the easy headline. It’s what grabs international attention and makes the world look at us differently. But here at home, the truth feels different. Oil is not the reason families suddenly have more disposable income. Oil is not why we finally have financial cushions that protect us from shocks. Those things didn’t happen by accident, and they didn’t happen just because Exxon started drilling. They happened because of choices – fiscal, political, and governance choices that changed the trajectory of our households and our nation.
Between 2015 and 2019, the APNU+AFC Administration pursued a fiscal strategy that made everyday life harder for ordinary people. VAT was extended to more than 200 previously exempt goods and services. In real terms, that meant almost one-third of the average household’s income vanished into taxes and fees. Average disposable income for families hovered at just over GY$41,000 per month.
At the same time, thousands of jobs were lost. 7000+ sugar workers were sent home. Nearly 2000 community service officers were cut. School grants and joint services bonuses were withdrawn. It was a period when households were forced to stretch every dollar just to make ends meet. Families had less to save, less to spend, and often had to turn to borrowing just to get by. Household non-performing loans surged to almost 9% by 2020, up from 1.6% under the PPP/C in the pre-2015 period. Confidence in the economy collapsed.
Contrast that with what happened after 2020 when the PPP/C returned to office. Instead of focusing on how to redistribute a shrinking pie, policy shifted to growing the pie itself. VAT was rolled back, wages and tax thresholds were lifted, and vital social programmes were restored. Subsidies on electricity, water, and fuel – along with targeted transfers and pensions – put money directly back into people’s pockets.
The impact was dramatic. By 2024, disposable household income had climbed sixfold to over GY$250,000 per month. People were no longer living pay cheque to pay cheque. They were saving more, paying down debt, and spending with confidence again. Non-performing loans fell. Households moved from survival to stability.
Some argue that Guyana’s turnaround is about oil. But the numbers tell a different story. Fiscal discipline, not petroleum, is what underpins resilience.
Take our reserves-to-expenditure ratio, a measure of how much the country saves compared to what it spends. Under APNU+AFC in 2019, that ratio was just 0.2 – 25 cents saved for every dollar spent. By 2024 under PPP/C, it was nearly 1:1, meaning every dollar spent was matched by nearly one dollar in reserves. That’s resilience. And importantly, PPP/C had achieved ratios above parity as far back as 2011 – long before the first barrel of oil.
Economics is not just about numbers. It’s about trust. And here, too, the difference between the two Administrations could not be sharper.
Under APNU+AFC, repeated breaches of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and Procurement Act were recorded. More than GY$300 million in overpayments went unrecovered in 2019–2020. Audit reports stacked up, but fewer than one in three recommendations were ever acted upon. That’s not just inefficiency – that’s neglect.
Since 2020, the PPP/C Government has charted a different course. Overpayments were fully recovered for the first time in recent history. Breaches have been reduced. Audit recommendations have dropped in number, and, more importantly, they are now implemented at a rate of nearly 85%. This is what stewardship looks like – not rhetoric, but measurable action that restores confidence in public institutions.
As Guyana heads into the 2025 election, the stakes could not be clearer. One path continues to compound resilience: fiscal discipline, stronger households, and credible governance. The other path risks a return to fragility: depleted buffers, weakened oversight, and households once again squeezed by reckless policy.
We didn’t get here by chance. The progress we see today was the result of deliberate choices – policies that put people first, built cushions against shocks, and invested in long-term stability.
The truth is simple: resilience wasn’t an accident. It was a choice. And in 2025, that choice is ours again.

Yours sincerely,
Joel Bhagwandin