VP Jagdeo tells Diaspora no high paying jobs in Govt.

Aug 22, 2021 News

…says come and explore opportunities in the Private Sector

Kaieteur News – The Guyanese leadership has in recent months been making repeated attempts at luring members of its Diaspora to return and invest in their homeland. Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, is cautioning however that while his administration is keen on capitalising on the potential of the country’s Diaspora, “we don’t have many high paying opportunities in Government.”
He was at the time the featured speaker during a panel discussion on Guyana and its future in light of its emerging oil and gas economy while in Houston, Texas, for the 2021 Offshore Technology Conference.
To this end, the Vice President is of the view that those in the Diaspora looking to return and contribute to the development of the country would have to instead seek opportunities in the private sector, particularly as it relates to the country’s emerging oil and gas sector.
“You have to come and explore opportunities in the Private Sector,” according to Jagdeo who pointed to areas of supply and logistics among other sectors.
“We have a massive Diaspora and they have made a lot of progress globally,” Jagdeo said, as he reiterated, “we are hoping that they will come back now and they will see this (emerging oil and gas sector) as part of their heritage too.”
To this end, he drew reference to the Diaspora Unit that is being manned by Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, headed by Minister, Hugh Todd.
It was at this forum that Jagdeo in lamenting the absence of high paying jobs in government, also pointed to the fact that Guyanese will have to live within their means for quite a while into the future, since major inflows of revenue from the rapidly developing oil and gas sector will not be had by the country for the next few years.
Jagdeo during that forum told those in attendance, “we don’t see ourselves wealthy as yet, oil revenue, the magnitude that would see major flows to Guyana is not coming for the next few years.”
According to Jagdeo, “US$300M/US$400M a year now is not a lot of money and many people think, oh the wealth will come tomorrow or, it’s here today and suddenly start splurging.”
The Vice President as such was adamant, “we have to live within our means for quite a while into the future.”
Doubling down on his position, the Vice President noted, “A lot of people believe we have a lot of money to give,” and drew reference to a publicly voiced opinion, initially by Professor, Clive Thomas, who intimated a US$5,000 cash transfer to Guyanese families annually.
Rubbishing the argument, the Vice President noted however, that if such a policy were to be adopted, it would cost some US$1B yearly, “and we only collecting US$300M.”
To this end, the Vice President said that persons had unrealistically raised the expectations for Guyanese with regards their oil wealth for political purposes.
Asked to project his vision for Guyana in the long to medium term, the Vice President pointed to increased contributions to the non-oil economy, generating as much as oil. To this end, he spoke to the diversification on the economy with a particular focus on the nation’s agricultural potential.
Guyana’s delayed revenue earnings were recently highlighted in a July 2021 Report done by the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
In that report, IEEFA Director, Tom Sanzillo, had documented that by the end of 2024, ExxonMobil Guyana is slated to receive some US$42.7B representing 85 percent of the take from some 555 million barrels of oil scheduled to be produced from the Stabroek Block during that period—representing recoverable costs such as expenses and profits.
Guyana’s take during the same period in contrast, sees the country earning some US$3.7B total, US$653M of which would represent taxes being paid by Guyana on behalf of the US oil major operating in the Stabroek Block.
Total royalty for its oil for Guyana at the end of 2024, is pegged to be US$523M or $100M less than what the country will take from its share, to fork over to the treasury as taxes—foregone revenue from ExxonMobil Guyana. The taxes projected for Guyana to pay by the end of 2024 amounts to some $653M.
According to Sanzillo’s finding, development costs alone to be recovered by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) during the period would amount to some US$24.7B of its total recoverable costs pegged at US$39.4B.

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