According to Newsmakers’ Andrea Sanke, Guyana is set to join the ranks of the world’s wealthiest countries. The small South American nation with less than 1 million people will soon become the fourth largest offshore oil producer in the world, after discovering oil there in 2015. However, there are concerns by experts about the potential negative consequences that oil discovery brings with it.
With 1.6 billion in revenue so far, the government so far has upgraded all of its infrastructure – building 12 hospitals, a deep water port, tow major highways, and a 1.9 billion gas to energy project.
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Despite the increasing wealth, President Irfaan Ali is committed to a low-carbon development strategy to protect his people, although some experts are concerned that the small nation does not have the history of good governance, and legal and regulatory framework to handle the tantamount growth. They fear Guyana could become like Venezuela – rife with political corruption, the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer.
Arthur Deakin, Director of the Energy Practice at AMI says the wealth is not translated to the lowest levels of the economy, and it’s difficult to get the field labor to fill the local contact law based on Guyana’s legal frameworks. He also said he has seen no budget for the money.
Guyana’s budget is 3.6 billion, 1 billion coming from oil. Tom Sanzillo, Director of Finance for IEEFA, counters and says there is a plan on how the budget gets spent each year – to keep the existing political structure in power and the rich, rich. There is no long-term plan for the country.
In terms of affecting the lives of ordniary people, Melinda Janki, amn international lawyer, called out ExxonMobil, claiming they are not complying with national legislation like doing an environmental assessments, and they are involved in extractivism. She warned that if an oil spill occurs they will rely on ExxonMobil to do cleanup because they have no experience.
The entire interview can be seen below:
