Introduction
Last week I had indicated today’s column would continue to discuss potential pitfalls arising from Guyana’s heavy dependence on extractive export industries, and the likely deepening of this dependence in the coming time of oil and gas production and export.
In this regard earlier columns have addressed the traditional triumvirate of extractive mineral sub-sectors (bauxite, gold and diamond), which have constituted the core of Guyana’s mineral wealth. Following this, my intention was to start considering forestry (the leading non-mineral extractive sub-sector) this week. I have deferred this until next week because I recently came across an IDB 2015 publication (Policy Brief) that is so strongly bullish on the prospects for bauxite in Guyana and Caricom, that I believe this should be brought to the earliest attention of readers.
The publication is entitled: ‘Caribbean Economic Alchemy: Has Magic Returned to Bauxite?’ by Sarosh R Khan. Its Abstract posits: “After a long period of stagnating prices, global bauxite marketing is experiencing changes which are expected to drive prices higher”. These changes are portrayed as a function of 1) increasing Chinese demand, and 2) recent policy constraints, placed on the