Ezra Fieser, Bloomberg News

BOGOTA
EnergiesNet.com 04 20 2022

The world’s fastest-growing economy, Guyana, is trying to stop a wave of oil wealth from bringing unwanted side-effects, according Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.

The government wants to protect the country from so-called Dutch disease, whereby a resource boom leads to economic imbalances and a decline in other sectors, Jagdeo said. 

“We’re determined not to go down that route,” Jagdeo said Tuesday, in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “That is why diversification of economy is so crucial at this point in time.”

The economy will grow 47% this year, according to a forecast from the International Monetary Fund. That’s on top of 20% growth in 2021, and 43% in 2020.

The country of 800,000 people, which borders Brazil and Venezuela, is being transformed by vast offshore oil deposits discovered in 2015 by Exxon Mobil Corp. The government passed laws last year to set up a sovereign wealth fund, and is boosting spending on education, health and infrastructure, to ensure the resources aren’t squandered, Jagdeo said.

National Oil Company

South America’s only English-speaking nation is also considering channeling resources into a national oil company, for which it would seek a strategic partner as it weighs granting new exploration licenses, Jagdeo said. 

Oil output will rise to about 800,000 barrels per day by 2025, Jagdeo said. That means it could overtake Kuwait to become the world’s largest producer per capita. Until recently, the country didn’t produce any crude at all, even though its neighbor Venezuela holds the world’s largest reserves.

Read more: Exxon Exports 1st Oil from New Liza Unity FPSO off Guyana Coast

Annual gross domestic product will expand to more than $16 billion by next year, triple its 2020 level, according to the IMF. 

bloomberg.com 04 19 2022