In spite of the oil-induced inflation of Guyana’s economy, a walk through Georgetown will show rampant poverty and homelessness. The same is true in many areas along the coast. The World Bank assessed in 2022 Guyana’s poverty rate as 48 per cent of the population living below the poverty line of USD 5.50 per day; see Stabroek News ‘World Bank says poverty in Guyana among highest in Latin America – Caribbean’, 02 November 2022; https://tinyurl.com/4tr7z52k
The recent book by Professor Ivelaw Griffith ‘Oil and Climate Change in Guyana’s Wet Neighbourhood: Probing Promises and Potential Peril’ was launched by the Canada-Caribbean Institute in a webinar on 08 July; See Video Posted: “Oil and Climate Change in Guyana’s Wet Neighbourhood”. A panelist, Joel Bhagwandin, made a number of remarkable assertions during his presentation. One such was his claim that the poverty rate had fallen from 48 per cent in 2022 to under 20 per cent in 2025. Mr. Bhagwandin said that he has personal access to unpublished data held by the Bureau of Statistics of Guyana, and he had personally gotten the World Bank to remove their report on poverty, and update its estimate.
OGGN – the Oil and Gas Governance Network – has been unable to find any such update, and indeed the World Bank continues to display the poverty rate in Guyana at 48 per cent; https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/guyana/overview
OGGN finds it unlikely that poverty has halved in three years, given the non-use of fiscal instruments by the Ministry of Finance to manage the economy, and given the uncontrolled inflation exacerbated by arbitrary government handouts.
Through the Editor, OGGN requests the World Bank and/or Guyana’s Bureau of Statistics to confirm this claim by Mr. Bhagwandin.
Sincerely,
Janette Bulkan
Alfred Bhulai
Andre Brandli
Kenrick Hunte
Darsh Khusial
Mike Persaud
Joe Persaud
