Guyana’s economic growth linked to the country’s booming Oil and Gas Industry took center stage at a recording of the BBC World Questions Programme at the Pegasus Hotel last evening.
The programme will air this Saturday on the BBC.
It opened with a probing question on whether Guyanese are really reaping the benefits from the oil and gas sector.
At the start of the programme moderated by Jonny Dymond of the BBC, it was suggested by an audience member that while Guyanese are hearing about the country’s oil wealth, the masses are simply not feeling the benefits. According to him, the only thing that has changed over the last five years, is the cost of living, which has skyrocketed.
Opposition Chief Whip and We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Member of Parliament, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley concurred, telling the live audience that she agreed with that position.
“The reality is that when you look at the budget, the last budget that was passed, 51% of it going to infrastructure development, about a fifth of that budget went to issues dealing with cost of living measures, and when you look at the pension, the increase in pension was so minuscule, but the result and the reality is, is that the people on the ground and the people across Guyana are not really feeling all of this wealth that is coming in. So the economy is growing, it is looking good and it sounds good on paper but when people have to go to the market to buy goods, when they have to deal with the rent, and they have to deal with utilities, that is where the issues are,” MP Sarabo-Halley said.
She said the plight of the people cannot be ignored.
But the Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, in pushing back against that narrative, spoke about more than 100,000 jobs being created in the last five years, and the country’s transformation.
He said in the last five years, the country’s economy grew by 36% per annum and Guyanese are reaping the benefits.
“It is not accurate to say that the only thing that has changed has been the cost of living. The growth in the Guyanese economy has resulted in the creation of an unprecedented wave of opportunities for Guyanese of all walks of life. And by opportunity I mean both employment opportunities, entrepreneurial opportunities and other opportunities for upliftment. Just to put things into perspective, you mentioned that we are a population of just about 950,000 people, and in fact, we have just crossed the one million mark, and over the last five years alone, we have created 104,000 new jobs,” Minister Singh said.
Dr. Singh said in the Oil and Gas sector alone, there are more than 6,000 Guyanese employed.
He said the Government has also allocated land to 50,000 Guyanese, and increased disposal income through a number of measures.
According to him, the Government is working to improve the lives of Guyanese in the shortest possible time but at the same time, it is investing in what matters and would benefit Guyanese in the long term.
But Joshua Gobin, who was among those in the audience, said while he has witnessed “some of the growth” first hand, the reality is there is a clear disconnect between the country’s economic growth, and the benefits being redound to Guyanese.
“The reality is, based on the responses I have heard from the panelists, is that we still have a problem of a disconnect between what some people see, the few see verses what the reality that the many see, that they feel. Because, the first thing that really happened with the response was a dismissal of the common man’s perception that they are not seeing the wealth. We have been stuck in that mode of politics where we in the political realm see certain things but that is not translated to what the common man understand and whenever the common man talks about it, it is dismissed no that’s not true,” Gobin said.
He said Guyanese at all levels of society must feel included and protected, as Guyana experiences continued growth.
Founder and Managing Director of Blossom Inc. and Sispro Inc, Ayodele Dalgety-Dean and Secretary of the Private Sector Commission, Clinton Urling also formed part of the panel on the BBC programme.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login