Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Executive Member, Dr. David Hinds has poured cold water on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF)’s recent commendation of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s prudent management of the country’s oil resources.
Professor Hinds said that while the WPA supports and thanks the IMF for including Guyana in its work, the party is of the opinion that the institution’s assessment was conducted against a “limited background”.
He said that while there is a place for organizations like the IMF, it has become quite the norm for these agencies to “fall short” in thoroughly assessing countries.
He said that unlike the IMF, the WPA goes deeper, well beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and focuses on: “not just on economic indicators, but human development”.
Dr. Hinds said that “No one can deny that the country has grown,” emphasizing that “it would be stupid to say there is no growth”, but he argued that the issue lies in the management of the country and the lack of human development.
He berated the government’s use of “unstructured and random” cash grants and challenged the IMF to show how these measures have led to the alleviation of poverty.
“Again, we welcome the IMF report but it has fallen short in terms of a real focus on people development,” he said.
The IMF, last Friday, said that the government was spending oil revenues in such a manner that resulted in increased disposable income and a reduced poverty rate.
In a statement, the financial institution said it came to this conclusion following a meeting with key stakeholders. This included government and opposition officials, as well as figures within the business community.
At the conclusion of these engagements, the IMF team, which routinely reviews Guyana’s economic wellbeing, commended local authorities for its “continued commitment to maintaining macroeconomic stability, ensuring fiscal sustainability, and fostering inclusive growth.”
The group also said Guyana’s economic transformation is advancing at a strong pace and is even broadening in scale due to the onset of oil revenues. This approach in revenue management it said, paved the way for strong non-oil output and large-scale public infrastructure investment. This it said allowed Guyana to have the highest real GDP growth rate in the world, at a recorded average of 47 percent in 2022–24.
Read more: [IMF praises Govt.’s spending of oil money; says disposable income increased, poverty rate reduced | Guyana Standard](https://www.guyanastandard.com/2025/03/08/imf-praises-govt-s-spending-of-oil-money-says-disposable-income-increased-poverty-rate-reduced/ “”)
