-to incentivise future growth of the economy, VP says

VICE-PRESIDENT Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said that the government intends to get as much of its oil resources as possible out of the ground to put towards the further development of the country.

He made this disclosure during a recent press conference where he responded to the narrative being peddled by members of the opposition that the government wants to, “pull all the oil out.”

He said: “What I’m saying is that the depletion policy of the government is to get more, as much of these resources out of the ground as possible given the net zero scenario globally where there would be a narrow window for using fossil fuel.”

According to him, these resources would then be converted into fixed assets that can incentivise future growth or be converted into financial assets that can be saved for the long-term development of the country.

While he noted the opposition’s attempts to paint a picture that says people are not benefitting from the oil resources, he emphasised that these assets will benefit the people of the country as is already happening through various means.

Against this backdrop, he noted that since the country began producing oil, some $1.65 billion has been added to the national budget thus far.

He went on to speak about specific injections to the budget which include some $37 billion annually, for public servants. Additionally, some $8.4 billion has gone towards school children with the implementation of various programmes.

“If you add the pensioners, the children, the public servants, the Joint Services, etc., and the part-time jobs, 330,000 Guyanese who are benefitting from about 70 odd billion dollars more, $70 billion more,” he said.

All of these various programmes which include funding for education, new hospitals, and infrastructure among other things serve as direct benefits to the citizenry.

“So, how come ordinary people are not getting this money back? It’s how much money you have you bring in. It’s being divided up to ensure two things happen, that we build the infrastructure of the future whilst at the same time we address the social needs of our people and this is a carefully calibrated balance,” Jagdeo said.