The Natural Resource Fund, which Guyana uses to hold its oil earnings, needs to be managed independently if it is to have any hope of escaping the “resource” curse (NRF).
Global Energy Expert David Goldwyn presented this viewpoint. CNBC, the world’s premier network for financial and business news, recently interviewed him as one of the important stakeholders.
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A Natural Resource Fund shouldn’t be thought of as a “silver bullet” or cure-all for the resource curse, according to Goldwyn, the president of Goldwyn Global Strategies, LLC (GGS), a worldwide energy advising group. The specialist in the field stated, “in order for Guyana to avoid the curse they need to get to the next level. First, they have an NRF but they need independent management of that fund as Norway has.” He said that the Guyanese government should refrain from squandering money and instead have a long-term approach to projects.
He said that strengthening government management of oil and gas as well as all other industries that would see increased growth is another crucial method. For instance, he pointed out that Guyana must improve its capacity to oversee extremely big purchases, such as the billions that would be allotted for the nation’s roads and other vital infrastructure. Governments, according to Goldwyn, are not always eager to choose that course since it is unpopular politically.
Still, he stated that “without that government capacity, (proper) accounting, and budget supervision, they are going to have a hard time managing that money well.” The energy specialist emphasized that the Guyanese government must direct a portion of the oil revenue toward aiding the underprivileged.
Overall, according to Goldwyn, Guyana would benefit greatly from the aforementioned in fending off the resource curse. For those who are not familiar with the phrase, the resource curse refers to the situation in which a nation suffers after discovering a resource in large amounts. To be frank the discovery has not improved the lot of people. Local officials have stated that efforts are being made to escape the resource curse, despite worries raised by Goldwyn and others over the nation’s capacity to avoid it.
The administration is committed not to becoming unduly dependent on oil earnings, according to Vice President and Chief Policymaker for the oil sector Bharrat Jagdeo. He also stated that some of the money is being used to guarantee the nation has a diverse economy. According to him, significant funds are being allocated to infrastructure, industry, health care, education, agriculture, and energy change.
