What organization was Mr. Ram representing in the discussion? Mr. Ram was representing himself as an independent expert.
What does Mr. Ram say the cost of living measures for a country? Mr. Ram says the cost of living measures what it costs for an average family to cover expenses like housing, food, taxes, health care, and savings in a particular geographic area.
What does Mr. Ram say is contributing to higher food prices in Guyana? Mr. Ram cites factors like drought reducing local agricultural production, more exports reducing domestic supply, higher wages in the oil sector bidding up prices, and the impacts of Dutch disease drawing labor away from agriculture.
What does Mr. Ram say about whether the government planned ahead for the impacts of drought on agriculture? Mr. Ram says he doesn’t think the government adequately planned ahead with things like irrigation policies to deal with the drought’s impact on agriculture.
What does Mr. Ram say most of Guyana’s oil export revenue goes? He says 80-90% of the revenue goes outside the country.
What concern does Mr. Ram raise about the speed of Guyana’s infrastructure spending? He is concerned projects may fail from things like contractors not being able to deliver and lack of human capacity overseeing projects.
What does Mr. Ram say is indicative of no “trickle down” of oil benefits to the common people? He points to skyrocketing housing prices that regular people cannot afford.
What does Mr. Ram say about whether most Guyanese can pursue agriculture solutions like kitchen gardens? He notes most Guyanese don’t have the land access to easily have kitchen gardens.
What banking issue does Mr. Ram say may not be the main obstacle to more agricultural production? He doesn’t think access to finance and reasonable interest rates are the main inhibitors currently.
What concern does Mr. Ram raise related to drainage and irrigation infrastructure? With sugar estates closing, he is concerned about reduced drainage and irrigation servicing for other agricultural areas.
What ministry does Mr. Ram say is responsible for the statistics bureau? He says it falls under the Ministry of Finance in the Office of the President.
What regional agriculture import relationship does Mr. Ram highlight? He notes Guyana imports a lot of Brazilian agricultural products due to proximity and trade links.
What government promise does Mr. Ram say was broken regarding the ExxonMobil deal? He says the Vice President broke his promise to renegotiate the deal.
What audit topic does Mr. Ram say recent audits failed to cover adequately? He doesn’t think they sufficiently audited items like petroleum operations, royalty calculations, and cost recovery questions.
What oil governance issue did Mr. Ram say the coalition government also performed poorly on? He says they failed to allow proper scrutiny of the ExxonMobil deal by civil society and parliament.
What oil sector factor does Mr. Ram say leads to accounting difficulties in auditing? He points to ExxonMobil shifting expenses across different operations and “pools.”
What does Mr. Ram imply was missing from recent audits of government reporting? He says they failed to evaluate the content, timeliness and reliability of periodic reports the government received.
What expertise issue does Mr. Ram raise regarding auditors reviewing the ExxonMobil deal? He questions whether they had adequate oil and gas expertise.
What failure does Mr. Ram allege regarding the government learning from other agreements in the region? He says they failed to learn anything from nearby countries’ oil deals like Barbados.
What one word does Mr. Ram use to describe the ExxonMobil deal and handling by the government? He bluntly calls the deal and government handling “stupid.”
