WITH Guyana poised to become an economic powerhouse in the Caribbean with its recent oil find, companies in the United Kingdom (UK) have already begun scouting for investments possibilities here, British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn said.

Global economic contraction over the last few years has affected overseas investments and cross-border trade, the World Bank has reported.

However, one of the most highly valued resource – oil – has served as an investment attraction for many states.

And with Guyana on the cusp of economic transformation with the discovery of oil, the possibility of increased investments in the country could be realised in the coming years.

According to Quinn, who was at the time speaking at a pressing briefing at his Bel Air Gardens residence on Thursday, “since oil became a big issue here, the interest of UK companies has gone through the roof.”

Phase one of oil production is expected to commence here in 2020 with the recovery of approximately 500 million barrels of oil at a rate of 120,000 barrels per day (bpd), while phase two is expected to recover the remaining resource in 2023 and beyond.

The high commissioner went on to share that UK companies have been visiting Guyana on a weekly basis to scout for investment possibilities.

Over the last two years, President David Granger has repeatedly encouraged overseas-based Guyanese and foreigners to invest here.

“We are now at a stage where we are seeing new companies coming out here every weekend, there was one for this week and we’ve got another one coming in next week,” he said, adding that a lot of those companies are in the services industry.

So while those companies are starting to “romp up,” the British High Commissioner said UK companies already here have begun “kicking off” what they do.

He offered too that these companies are not just limited to the oil and gas sectors but are entities which operate in many other sectors.

The high commissioner also added his voice to those who have called for there to be a speeding up of the legislative process to guide the oil and gas sectors.

“The movement to do legislation on that, through the commission, through the sovereign wealth fund, local content, that’s moving forward and that’s important and that needs to be resolved as soon as possible,” he said.

Quinn was keen to note though, that while the process is moving forward, “there is an urgency to ensure that the government is able to manage what is coming down the line,” even as he contended that they are fully aware of this.

But at the same time, he added, there is need for continued extensive consultations.

“The legislation needs to get through quickly, but it also needs to get through a process of consultation with as wide a group of stakeholders as possible,” he said.
He also said the National Development Strategy should guide the direction of Guyana’s development after oil.

However, he offered that due to the fact that the strategy was not designed to take into account oil proceeds, there is need for it to be updated.

As such, he recommended government lobby stakeholders to assist in helping to review the strategy with the primary focus being on the development of the country and its people.

“If you’re going to make this work properly, you need to have an overarching statement of ‘what’s the goal for the country 20-25 years down the line?’. Then everything else comes down from it in terms of what needs to be done to address each of the specific areas highlighted in the strategy,” he explained.

High Commissioner Quinn said while this has been communicated to the government by his Commission, there is a universal understanding that there needs to be a proper plan for spending money generated from oil.