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Govt. deliberately hiding poverty statistics in oil rich Guyana – Bloomberg reports
(Kaieteur News) – In a country historically blessed with abundant resources and more recently, black gold or oil as we know it, Guyanese continue to complain about the economic strains they are faced with, as government keeps data from the public regarding poverty levels in the country’s season of bounty.
Raising this red flag in a recent report was Bloomberg, an American news outfit, recognised globally for its business and markets news, data, analysis and more.
Bloomberg recently visited the capital city and observed the transformation taking place in-country with construction taking place at every corner. The columnist, Juan Spinetto wrote, “While its new energy riches remain largely out of sight, pumped from deep beneath the Atlantic about 120 miles off the coast, signs of the oil boom are everywhere. I’ve never seen so many excavators and dump trucks in one place.”
Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh
At the same time, Bloomberg noted the readily available data on “positive signs” from booming vehicle sales to a rapidly expanding mortgage market. It however pointed to the blackout on data that shows progress on the living conditions of the Guyanese people.
Bloomberg reported, “Poor transparency is compounded by the lack of reliable statistics. Positive signs abound in the economic data, from booming vehicle sales to a rapidly expanding mortgage market. Yet the government took three years to publish a preliminary report from the 2022 census and its final results are still pending.”
The columnist stated that even more baffling is the absence of an official poverty estimate covering the years of extraordinary economic growth.
“When I asked Finance Minister Ashni Singh about this, he argued that poverty should be measured across multiple dimensions, including access to healthcare, education and sanitation, all of which he said have reached record levels of coverage,” the report states.
Bloomberg notes that while the minister’s explanation is fair, poverty estimates range from 58%, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, to just 18% to 20%, according to some local economists. As such, it said the country’s data compass appears broken.
“My suspicion is that the government may be reluctant to publish such figures for fear of handing the opposition a powerful political narrative. That would be short-sighted. Citizens, investors and anyone trying to understand Guyana’s transformation need better data and greater transparency to judge where the country is really headed,” the Bloomberg report pointed out.
To this end, the columnist suggested that the government’s biggest political risk may be overpromising and underdelivering, raising expectations to such levels that even genuine progress cannot satisfy voters.
It referenced a recent poll by the University of Guyana’s GREEN Institute which found that 42% of respondents were somewhat or very optimistic about the country’s outlook over the next 20 years. Another 40% described themselves as somewhat or very pessimistic.
Notably, the survey cautions that its sample overrepresents the more educated segments of society and part of the diaspora. Yet, Bloomberg said the findings suggest a complex public mood: “About 43% said the benefits of growth are real but unevenly distributed, while another 27% said the economy being built is simply not the kind of society they want. Foreign oil companies, meanwhile, were considered the least trusted institutions included in the survey.”
The report therefore underlined that the emerging picture is one in which oil wealth could sharpen not only ethnic divisions but class disparities. It said, “Especially during periods of high oil prices, governments can be tempted to channel jobs, contracts, flagship projects or subsidies toward political supporters and allied regions rather than where they generate the greatest public benefit, creating fertile ground for patronage and corruption.”
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Fear & speculation are different from the reality!!!
Evidently, there are massive “growth & development” , transformation & prosperity among all strata of society, in every community nationwide!!!!