GUYANA must accelerate its national digitisation agenda if it is to keep pace with the accelerating global technological transformation, President Dr Irfaan Ali warned on Friday.
Speaking at the launch of the Guyana Digital School at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the president said the country cannot afford to fall behind as the fourth industrial wave reshapes every major sector of the global economy at unprecedented speed.
He stressed that urgency is essential. “We must digitise, and digitise quickly,” he said, warning that nations that hesitate risk being locked out of future economic opportunity. Referencing the impact of earlier technological revolutions, he noted, “In the 20th century, the computer revolution reshaped the modern economy, but it also deepened global inequality because many countries entered late and unprepared. Guyana cannot afford to repeat that mistake, not now, not when the fourth wave is moving even faster and the stakes are even higher.”
President Ali said the government’s push to digitise public sector services, expand online government platforms, improve data systems and support digital banking solutions is part of a deliberate strategy to transition Guyana into a modern, competitive economy.
Citizens are already interacting with the state through more online portals, he said, and financial institutions are expanding mobile banking, electronic payments and digital wallet systems to increase efficiency and access.
Defending the scale of the government’s investment, he said the direction of the world leaves no room for hesitation. “Some may ask, why is the government investing so heavily in digitisation? Why are we racing toward digital education, digital infrastructure, digital services?” he said.
“And I will answer them simply; the future of the world will be digital, the future of the economy will be digital, and the future of work will be digital.”
He insisted that the effort is strategic and grounded in economic reality. “We are not investing to be fashionable. We’re not investing to please consultants. We’re not investing to follow global trends blindly. We’re investing because this is where global opportunity is being created. Digital technology is now the backbone of every major industry.”
The president described a world rapidly reorganising itself around digital capability.
“Healthcare is already shifting to telemedicine, digital diagnostics and AI-assisted imaging and surgery. Agriculture is adopting precision farming, drones, sensor-driven irrigation and predictive analytics. Manufacturing is moving to robotics, 3D printing and automated supply chains, while the financial sector is changing through FinTech, blockchain, mobile banking and digital wallets.”
He added that “Transport is modernising with autonomous systems, smart logistics and electric mobility. Governance itself is transforming through digital public services, secure data platforms and integrated systems that reduce corruption and increase efficiency.”
As for education, he said the Guyana Digital School will play a central role in this transition, noting that “Education is shifting to digital platforms, personalised learning, virtual classrooms and hybrid models.”
Dr Ali said Guyana must be ready to participate in this transformation, not observe it from the sidelines. “Guyana cannot stand on the sidelines and watch this transformation pass us by. We cannot be spectators in a game where the rules are being rewritten daily,” he said.
Instead, the country must pivot fully into a new era of knowledge and innovation. “We must move from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, from dependence on extraction to dependence on invention, industrialisation and innovation, from low-skilled labour to high-skilled digital talent.”
The Guyana Digital School launch, he said, is a key step in ensuring that every child, regardless of location, can participate in that future.
Guyana’s digitisation drive is a sweeping national effort to modernise the country by transforming public services, expanding digital education, integrating advanced technologies into healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing and transport, and strengthening secure data systems across government.
It also accelerates the use of digital banking and electronic payment platforms as the nation shifts from traditional, paper-based and resource-dependent systems to a fast, efficient and innovation-driven digital ecosystem capable of competing in the rapidly evolving global technological landscape.