AS Guyana moves deeper into an era of rapid economic change, President Irfaan Ali’s recent remarks about productivity and work ethic touched on a subject the country cannot afford to avoid.
Booming revenues, rising wages and expanding opportunities are welcome developments. But history shows that sudden wealth, if not carefully managed, can weaken the very foundations needed to sustain it.
The President’s warning that higher earnings in some sectors are already reducing productive time should not be dismissed as rhetorical.
His example of workers who now earn in a few days what once took a full week to make points to a real risk in fast-growing economies: the temptation to treat short-term gain as a substitute for long-term effort and investment.
Economists have long described this phenomenon in resource-rich countries as a version of “Dutch disease”, not only in the technical sense of exchange rates and distorted sectors, but also in the social sense, where easy money changes attitudes toward work, discipline and enterprise.
In that context, the President’s argument is less about blaming workers and more about recognising a structural and cultural challenge that accompanies sudden prosperity.
Guyana is not the first country to face this test. From parts of Africa to the Middle East and Latin America, many resource-driven economies have struggled to convert windfalls into lasting, broad-based development.
The lesson is consistent: wealth creation is not automatic. It depends on policy, institutions, and just as importantly, on how citizens respond to opportunity.
The administration’s emphasis on expanding sectors such as tourism and agriculture reflects an attempt to avoid overdependence on oil and gas.
If properly managed, new investments, including on islands such as Leguan, could indeed create secondary markets for farmers, small suppliers and service providers. That kind of linkage is how growth spreads beyond a narrow set of industries.
Similarly, the push to lower energy costs through off-grid systems in hinterland, riverain and island communities is not only an infrastructure project but an economic one.
Cheaper electricity can raise disposable income, encourage saving and make small businesses more viable. But these benefits will matter little if the extra income is not matched by higher levels of productivity and investment.
The President is right to argue that national development is not only a matter of budgets and megaprojects; It is also about culture, expectations and habits.
A society that gradually shifts toward working less, producing less and relying more on windfall income will eventually find itself vulnerable when conditions change, as they always do.
At the same time, this conversation must be handled carefully. Productivity cannot be improved by exhortation alone.
It also depends on education, skills training, reliable infrastructure, fair wages and modern working conditions.
If the State is asking citizens to work smarter and longer, it must also ensure that systems are in place to make that effort worthwhile and sustainable.
Guyana stands at a rare moment in its history. The country has resources, attention and opportunity that previous generations could scarcely imagine.
Whether these advantages translate into durable prosperity will depend not only on government policy, but on the collective choices of its people, about work, enterprise, saving and long-term ambition.
This is an uncomfortable but necessary national conversation. The real danger is not that Guyana talks too much about productivity and mindset. It is that it talks too little, and too late.
