One of the most significant challenges that will befall the party that wins the General and Regional Elections in less than a week will be governance reforms to manage the oil windfall.
This was noted in one of the most recent reports that was generated by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU is a specialist publisher serving companies establishing and managing operations across national borders.
In the February 22, 2020 report that the Guyana Standard perused, the Unit said that policymakers will face a major challenge in terms of the governance reforms required to manage the boost to spending capacities especially in the areas of procurement and financial monitoring. Mindful of the potential risks of the “resource curse” where countries rich in natural resources have worse economic outcomes and lower levels of democracy, the EIU was keen to note that the Granger administration has begun a process to mitigate the potential for waste and corruption.
In this regard, the world leader in global business intelligence reminded that the Natural Resource Fund created in January 2019, will play a vital role in absorbing surpluses and encouraging greater transparency in the management of the public finances. It also recalled that Guyana became a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) which requires the payments government receives from companies are made public.
Even as it noted the foregoing, the EIU noted that successive governments have struggled with the implementation of reform efforts in the past, and therefore noted that the risk of cronyism and mismanagement will persist.
