In Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, when Marcellus declares, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”, he’s talking about Denmark’s relationship with Norway; but on the symbolic level, he is summing up Claudius’s corrupting effect on the kingdom, which is intensified by his unpunished crime. So when your Eyewitness says, “Something’s rotten in the state of Mudland”, he’s thinking about us being an oil rich state with billions of US$ flowing into our coffers, but yet businessmen are complaining about not getting any. Which constipates the entire economy, since we’re so dependent on imports that have to be paid for in US greenbacks! Greenbacks, greenbacks, everywhere – yet not a dime to spend!!
So what’s really going on, eh?? “Corrupting effect”??? Before the oil started flowing, we were warned about the “Dutch Disease”. There’d be so much US$ entering our economy – since we’d be paid in that currency – that in converting it to Guyanese dollars to pay for local goods and services, the demand would make our dollar stronger and stronger. Gy$20 to US$1 sounds good, no? Well not really. If our dollar becomes that strong, it’ll make our exports more expensive – and price them out of the market!! US$100 for a bottle of achar?? And there goes that product, and in arrives Dutch Disease!!
So why the slip between the cup and the lip, when we were supposed to be rolling around in greenbacks by now?? Well, whatever it is…who’s supposed to “check it out” and do something ‘bout it?? “Not us!!” said the Bank of Guyana, “We just let the exchange rate rise and fall by supply and demand”!! But statutorily, the BoG’s supposed to be “fostering domestic price stability through the promotion of stable credit and exchange conditions, as well as sound financial intermediation conducive to the growth of the economy of Guyana.” That’s such a WIDE mandate it seems to cover everything under the stars – when it comes to money!!And for sure, we know that Central Banks intervene for all sorts of reasons – and we ain’t talking about quantitative easing and other such “monetary” policies!! What does maintaining “stable exchange conditions” sound like?? If there aren’t enough US dollars to match demand, isn’t the price of US gonna skyrocket? And destabilise the exchange rate?? As a matter of fact, maintaining liquidity in the foreign currency markets is one of the functions of many Central Banks – especially in emerging countries like us, where capital markets are quite underdeveloped.
And with the Government now being the single largest source of US dollars from oil revenues, isn’t the BoG in a key position to know what’s going on?? Surely, the infrastructural spending isn’t ALL recycled to purchase foreign inputs like cement and steel??
…the home gardens??
Your Eyewitness knows that the enormous rise in the cost of living is having a devastating impact on the “small man and woman”!! Yes, we know that, in Guyana, the burden of coping with poverty falls mostly on the woman. So what to do?? It doesn’t help much to point out that much of the inflationary pressures are externally-driven, is it?? Folks want relief here and now.
And we can’t just look towards the Government. We gotta see what best can be done to tide our poor over until the jobs in the new, evolving economy kick in – and the war in Ukraine ends. Back during the bad old Burnham days, your Eyewitness’s mom turned to kitchen gardens when there was no money to buy food AND no food to buy!! So his mother roped in him and his siblings to take care of the vegetable “beds”, the chicken coop, and some ducks thrown in for good measure.
He whined at the time, they survived intact!!
…the irony??
Your Eyewitness was bemused by the headline: “Wildlife trader gets three years for trafficking in Venezuelans”. Surely, he didn’t think the Venezuelans were “wildlife” – just because they came through the jungles?? How about “Wild cane for wild trafficker”??
