Opinion
Is the oil sector contributing to national development proportionate to its size?
Articles by Dr. Tarron Khemraj appearing on his business page in SN 2023/09/24 and SN 2023/09/10 require some comments, since the use of ‘Balances from Abroad’ imply that Commercial Banks have readily available sources of foreign exchange that are liquid balances and can be deployed to make good any foreign exchange ‘shortage’ affecting the Private…
Exxon has engaged in dodgy accounting going all the way back to Shell transaction
Maya Angelou, American literary giant and civil rights activist once said, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time”. Unfortunately, when Esso showed us who they were from the first decade of this century, we not only did not believe them, but successive governments spinelessly conspired with them to deprive current…
GRA is not the competent authority to lead all or any Petroleum audits
It would be perfectly understandable if the public is totally confused over the issue of the audit of the expenses claimed by Esso, Hess and CNOOC for the period 1999 – 2017. Various reports in the media suggest that the UK entity contracted to audit the costs reported by the consortium were overstated by US$214…
Faceless growth is now stalking the land
Guyana’s oil economy is now mirroring its lopsided oil contract. The world’s highest growing economy in 2022 is not spreading the fruits of growth evenly across Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Services. Indeed, the rich versus poor is mirrored by oil and non-oil economy – the high growth oil sector registering 90% growth in the value-added income…
Guyana’s reclassification as a high-income country
Recently, the World Bank, using the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita measure, reclassified Guyana as a high-income country. GNI is the sum of all income earned by a country, irrespective of where the income was earned. The justification for this elevation into the highest GNI category is largely based on the impact of foreign…
Balances due from abroad and the foreign exchange “shortage”
By Tarron Khemraj On September 10, 2023 On August 19, the Stabroek News reported that the government is willing to make necessary interventions in the foreign exchange (FX) market in order to enable the smooth access to hard currencies. In the same news report, Vice President Jagdeo noted that there is ample foreign exchange if one considers the…
Country must see Exxon’s reports for relinquishment of oil blocks – TIGI President
…Jagdeo does not own the country’s resources Kaieteur News – President of local watchdog organization, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) Frederick Collins is calling on the Government of Guyana (GoG) to release the reports submitted by ExxonMobil, outlining the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on their operations. The quarterly reports were a prerequisite to the extension…
No doubt the NTC Chair and Executive Members will readily agree to Toshao Fernandes’ request
I am glad to read that Toshao Orin Fernandes of Chinese Landing Amerindian Village has asked the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) for a slot at the opening of the NTC’s conference on Monday 28 August to talk about the continuing illegal mining on Chinese Landing’s titled Village Lands. It has been over a month since…
Fish catches decline began around the same time as the beginning of offshore oil production, at the end of 2019
These four posters focus on Bangamary (scientific name Macrodon ancylodon, also known as King Weakfish in neighbouring Suriname), the most affordable fish in Guyanese coastal markets and available throughout the year. The posters are part of the public dissemination of research findings supported by a Canadian Government SSHRC Insight grant (2022-2024) awarded to Dr Janette…
An alternative PSA model such as the Gross Split Model eliminates contested areas in current contract
It has been eight years since large oil reserves were discovered off the shores of Guyana, but the nation has only reaped a measly 14.5% of total oil revenues since oil production or more accurately oil extraction started in 2019. The remaining 85.5% have been captured by foreign oil companies. In fact, the Stabroek Block…