Guyana set to benefit from highest oil and gas prices
IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone
IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone

— country should not be punished for discovering new energy sources, could become leader in green energy transition, says IDB

DEMOCRACY is essential for Guyana to move from a developing nation to a developed nation because the country will have the resources to do so and it has the capacity to be another Norway, according to Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Mauricio Claver-Carone.

Norway is considered to be the most sustainable country in the world with output of fossil fuel that is the cleanest, while being environmentally friendly. The country has also led the charge towards renewable energy.

In a roundtable with Caribbean journalists on Monday during a virtual meeting over Microsoft Teams, the IDB President said Guyana will have the per capita resources if managed well, to be a shining example for the Caribbean Region

“We have a unique opportunity to help a country to take that developmental path like Norway did, we want Guyana to be Norway, we don’t want it to be some of the Middle Eastern and African models that have seen development stalled with the new resources and democracy trampled in that regard,” he said.

He continued: “Our goal is for Guyana to be the Norway model and if we can help do that successfully, then it will be the first time we see that in Latin America and the Caribbean, we can help a country through its entire development phase and green transition.”

Norway, he said, is now a champion with regard to green energy and sustainable development goals.

“It’s incumbent upon us to get it right and that is why we are proud to be the largest development partners of both Guyana and Suriname and we will continue to work this way because we have the opportunity to do something very special and very unique,” the IDB President noted.

He said Guyana and Suriname will also benefit from a cleaner energy transition and achieve their sustainable development goals.

“These countries should not be punished because they discovered new energy sources in the 21st century, we will help them at the same time they undergo that transition in that regard,” said Claver-Carone, noting that a mixed-energy matrix will be favoured.

He emphasised: “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we have not seen since Norway discovered its resources in the 20th century to help a democratic country, in this case of Guyana, to truly ensure that those resources go to the development of the country and within that democratic structure for the benefit of its people in a sustainable and inclusive fashion.”

The IDB President said Guyana and Suriname are in a different time, while Latin America and the Caribbean are at another phase of development and energy needs.

The IDB, he said, is fully committed to helping Guyana with its overall logistics, transportation and infrastructural needs with a focus on sustainability and inclusion.

“I am very optimistic in this regard and I think we have an opportunity to walk and chew gum at the same time, we are going to be able to work with Guyana, Guyanese companies [and] investors to ensure projects are done in an inclusive and sustainable fashion in its energy transition to benefit the citizens of Guyana and their developmental needs,” he noted.

YEAR OF THE CARIBBEAN
Under his management, he said, the IDB has made historic and unprecedented commitments to the Caribbean and 2022 will be the year of the Caribbean.

This year, he said, there will be a record level of approvals for the Region.

In 2021, he said that the IDB group approved US$435M for Caribbean countries in a wide range of areas.

“We expect in 2022 to triple that to a record US$1.3 billion and that will be in addition to the IDB group’s current account and main portfolio which is about $2.5 billion in 68 projects.”

Noting that the Caribbean is heterogeneous, he said Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname will benefit from the highest oil and gas prices in over a decade.

“In the geopolitical scale in regard to oil and gas, all eyes in the world should be on Guyana, which is positioning itself to be the largest capital producer of oil and gas in the world in that regard, and that is a tremendous opportunity and it comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility,” the IDB President underscored.

He said while countries such as Guyana and Suriname will benefit from oil prices, other Caribbean countries such as Barbados, The Bahamas and Jamaica will experience inflation.

However, the IDB President said GDP ratios have risen in the Region and the IDB will partner with all countries to have robust economic growth to improve the GDP ratios.

“Globally, tourism is recovering by the third quarter of 2021, tourism to the Caribbean had reached 80 per cent compared to its 2021 levels, but now we have to build upon that so tourism gets better,” he noted.

Claver-Carone also pointed out that regional, non-regional, borrowing and non-barrowing members have noted the developmental impact of tourism and the IDB under his leadership will invest in such development in the Caribbean.

“Here at the IDB under my administration we are doubling down and expanding an entire business line on tourism and tourism development, because that is key to a lot of countries, not just for the Caribbean, also in Central America and otherwise,” he said.

Although the Caribbean is made up of small island nations, he said there are huge opportunities based on the analysis done, especially in closing the digital access gap between Caribbean economies and countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Closing the digital gap, he said, would increase the GDP of Caribbean countries between six and 12 per cent in the medium term.

“That is like a double-digit growth opportunity for the Caribbean, it would create in the Caribbean over 200,000 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs. We see across the board the benefits of investing in digitalisation and connectivity for the Caribbean, since the return on investment can be from two to 50 times the cost of investing, that’s huge return and huge opportunity,” Claver-Carone said.

Further, he noted that a 10-point improvement in digital infrastructure is associated with three per cent faster economic growth in the Caribbean.

“I am not talking about faster streaming or gaming, I am talking about being able to participate in the 21st century economy; it is about getting ahead of the labour market trends and being able to offer services like telemedicine, tele-education and other fields of financial technology,” he noted.

He said the IDB is seeing Latin America and the Caribbean as leaders in financial technologies, health technologies and educational technologies.

Noting that the pandemic had an enormous impact on all countries, their supply chains and agriculture, the IDB President also noted that there are many firms willing to invest in the Caribbean to enhance agriculture and tourism.

Further, he said there are major opportunities in eco-tourism, especially in Guyana, Suriname and Jamaica; additionally, service sector outsourcing is a major hub for development in the Caribbean.

“If you are a service provider and you are outsourcing in one way or another, labour in any English- speaking country and you want to move your operations to the Caribbean, the IDB will finance that move. We want to see the job creation, growth and impact in the Americas,” he noted.

In 2015, ExxonMobil and Hess Corp announced the discovery of oil resources in the Liza I field, an area that forms part of the Stabroek block off the coast of Guyana.

Mauricio Claver-Carone was appointed President of the IDB since October 2020. He is an international development official, a former senior director at the US National Security Council, a former senior adviser at the US Treasury Department, a lawyer and under his leadership, the bank has developed a blueprint for post-pandemic recovery and prioritised efforts to avert another “lost decade” in Latin America and the Caribbean.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.