Guyana has struck oil but for the panelists at a discussion on Wednesday there is no reason to celebrate. In fact one panelist argued that there are actually grounds for saying that government acted illegally in signing to such terms.
On Wednesday, the Moray House Trust held a panel discussion where economists Collin Constantine and Tarron Khemraj along with international lawyer Melinda Janki sought to answer the question ‘What will oil do for Guyana?’
According to Janki, oil will impoverish Guyana; Constantine argued that the current political system is likely to create a social crisis of rising inequality and resentment fostered by grandiose promises while Khemraj argued that a developing oil industry is apt to retard the growth of other industries in a case of Baumol Cost Disease. In short according to Khemraj, Guyana is caught in a prisoner dilemma trap between a rock and a hard place.