By Lisa Hamilton

GUYANA, now an oil producing nation, will gain more serious attention by other states, investors and institutions and will swiftly move from a ‘Cinderella country’ to one earning significant incomes.

This is the projection Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, who told the newspaper that development will be made easier for Guyana through systematic and proper economic, social and physical planning. On Friday, President David Granger announced ‘first oil’ lifting the thoughts of Guyanese to all which could now be in greater reach for the country. “The most important implication of ‘first oil’ is the promise or hope that it brings. First, here is the prospect of a dramatic increase in the country’s total annual income, its ability to export and our capacity to import as well as to increase the income going to the State. That means that we will be in a position to enhance the wellbeing of Guyanese and to improve their standard of living by purchasing more and better goods and services,” Greenidge said.

With the income going to the country’s treasury and being managed by the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), he stated that the government will be given more leeway to focus on programmes of employment, training, health, education and production improvement.
However, key aspects the Foreign Secretary looks forward to being addressed include skill level improvement in all sectors, public infrastructure development, improvements to public services and security and safety in public life. He noted that Guyana has grappled with the challenge of emigration over the years and low levels of productivity in existing industries but with greater resources, the educational curricula, which include vocational and technical training, can be made more relevant.

Furthermore, former Minister of Foreign Affairs highlighted the need for diversification through investment stating: “…the main constraint on investment – and foreign investment in particular – is poor and insufficient infrastructure such as roads, electricity, pure water supply and physical infrastructure such as transport facilities. Part of the problem is also low consumer incomes. Enhanced incomes can assist in the setting of higher standards of packaging and health standards for example.”

Greenidge said that he believes the government ought to give the greatest priority to physical planning which includes strategic road-building and traffic control which is consistent with the growth of pedestrian traffic and motor vehicles. Also important is economic planning which would ensure consistency in the activities of the government’s sectoral agencies and those of the private sector. He wants to see this include banking, export promotion in line with export market opportunities and processing facilities consistent with health standards. “The priorities for expenditure of the funds received ought to be in support of the main priorities and most importantly, in line with breaking the bottlenecks the country currently faces and those it is likely to face,” Greenidge advised.
“None of this is magic…attention will need to be paid to many of the areas currently neglected if the petroleum sector itself is to prosper and benefit Guyanese.”

A DIGITAL STATE

Meanwhile, Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes, stated that she looks forward to oil production leading to the making of a modern Guyana which affords each Guyanese equal access to the same services. Hughes stated: “First oil is perhaps one of the best things that has happened to Guyana since the three counties were first merged in July 21, 1832. Our generation is fortunate to have been afforded the privilege of transforming Guyana into a modern developed equitable society in which all of its citizens will be afforded a genuine equal opportunity at development.”

Thousands of residents from hinterland communities have been connected to the Internet through means such as the Ministry’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) access and e-services for Hinterland, Poor and Remote Communities (HPRCs) pilot project.
Through other projects, secondary and primary schools, tertiary institutions, government ministries and agencies have all been connected with free Internet.

“Communities that had Internet had to buy it off a private company and you had the headache of finding every month — I heard there were times when it cost as much as $50,000 to bring Internet to your communities,” the minister had told the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) Conference in October 2019.

She told the Guyana Chronicle on Monday: “From a technological development perspective, increased revenues to this industry will not only reduce the technological deficit between hinterland and coastal communities, develop and expand other sectors, but offers to catapult the country into a modern advanced state-of-the-art country. Finally, we have the opportunity to realise the potential generations of Guyanese have only dreamed of. Let’s prepare and celebrate this glorious gift we have been given.”

Also commenting on the ‘first oil’ announcement was British High Commissioner, Greg Quinn, who stated that while it will take some time for us to begin to see the real benefits, Guyana stands to benefit largely from oil.
“First oil is a wonderful thing and a good thing for this country but the important thing is that everybody from Guyana, down to the smallest village in the Deep South, from the west to the east, everybody needs to benefit from oil,” he said.
“What oil will do is provide the funding for the building of the infrastructure facilities, hospitals, social services, and that’s where we all need to be looking up going forward…I certainly believe that with the amount of money that will come into this country with the amount of oil, everybody should and everybody will feel the positive benefits.”