“Oil-rich Guyana is worse off from the very start”- Glenn Lall

Feb 09, 2025 News

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“Every single one of those nations collected higher royalties than Guyana—some as high as 15% to 20% and yet, failure still came knocking at their doors. Now, let’s look at Guyana. We have done none of those things. These (politicians) have not ring-fenced the oil projects, (are) bluntly refusing to install our own meters at the oil pumps; we don’t have a Petroleum Commission in place and we are not collecting any taxes from ExxonMobil and their partners.”- Glenn Lall

…says oil-producing nations with higher royalties, ring-fencing and taxes now turning to Banks for help after depleting resources

Kaieteur News- While oil-producing nations, with depleted resources are now turning to financial institutions for help to manage their countries, Guyana that has only now joined the league is continuously increasing its debt as government refuses to implement key measures to rake in more revenue from the sector to support the nation.

This is the view of Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall who during his weekly radio programme on Friday evening, aired on 99.1/ 99.5 FM, shared his views on the current economic status of the country.

Lall, a stern advocate for transparency and good governance, particularly in the oil and gas sector zeroed into the history of neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago during its early days of oil production.

Describing its glory days as an exciting time in history, not only for the nation, but for those visiting for business and other purposes, Lall pointed out that the buzz and “wild rush” has now died.

He said, “What the oil giveth, the oil can taketh away when a country doesn’t manage it right.  And if you don’t believe me, just look at Trinidad today…Trinis applying for a US visa back in those days, wasn’t granted a 3-month, one-year or two-year visa, the Embassy use to give them Indefinite Multiple Entry visas!  Meaning, until that individual dead, they could travel to the US with that type of visa. It wasn’t just the business people and flight attendants with pilots who were granted those type of visas, no uncle, even the Trinis who were cutting cane, weeding the roadside and picking garbage were granted that visa, without a fuss…today everything near done, and is a different story at the embassy, because Trinis have become like Guyanese, dying to get a visa to run out Trinidad in search of a better life.”

Lall was keen to note that his reason for highlighting this was not to embarrass the twin island, but merely to make the point of what can happen to a country with such resources.

In fact, the Publisher told listeners that Trinidad was one of the better managed third world countries that got to enjoy the fruits of its petroleum sector.

“Can I say that about anyone of the African and Asian countries with these types of resources? Absolutely no,” Lall said as he went on to explain that in 2019- the same year, Guyana commenced oil production- Ghana was dubbed the fastest growing economy in the world.

He added, “Five years isn’t finished, today Ghana’s new president not only driving out the foreign gold thieves in that country, but lining up at the World Bank for loans to feed its people.”

Locally, Lall pointed out that Guyana has discovered massive resources that oil companies describe as an unprecedented discovery. Instead of building a solid future for the country, the businessman argued that politicians have failed to make the right decisions to ensure its people prosper.

“The harsh truth my friends, is that we are not just heading in the same direction as Trinidad and many African and Asian countries that have been stripped of their wealth—we are already worse off than them at this very moment. And mind you, we have only just begun extracting oil,” the advocate stressed.

He noted that those nations did all they could to ensure the country benefits fully from their oil wealth and still failed.

“They installed their own meters at the oil pumps to measure every drop extracted, and they still failed. They set up Petroleum Commissions filled with oil experts to help manage their oil sectors, and they still failed. They collected their full taxes—every cent they were owed—and still failed. They scrutinized every cost down to the last bolt, nut, pin, and contracts, and still failed,” Lall reasoned.

In T&T’s case, he recalled that some 18,000 persons were employed to help manage its petroleum industry. Today, the businessman said that the economy is struggling to stay afloat with its growing debt.

“Every single one of those nations collected higher royalties than Guyana—some as high as 15% to 20% and yet, failure still came knocking at their doors. Now, let’s look at Guyana. We have done none of those things. These (politicians) have not ring-fenced the oil projects, (are) bluntly refusing to install our own meters at the oil pumps; we don’t have a Petroleum Commission in place and we are not collecting any taxes from ExxonMobil and their partners,” Lall pointed out.

 

(“Oil-rich Guyana is worse off from the very start”- Glenn Lall)

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• banks, Debt, Lall, oil, taxes, Trinidad, worse off

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