Most weirdly, EPA’s purported December 14, 2024 response to my Kaieteur News interview of December 11, 2024, “Guyana cannot seize and sell its own assets to pay for an oil spill” did not match my interview subject, obviously admitting the idiocy that Guyana can seize Guyana’s own assets to pay for an oil spill. Nevertheless,…
The public deserves information on the outcomes of the 2016 Petroleum Sharing Agreement, PSA2016. Article 15.1 purports that Guyana’s tax laws are complied with by the contractor and its affiliated companies. This is in form only. Substance of actual corporation profits tax, under Guyana’s Sovereign Tax laws, are not paid into Guyana’s Consolidated Fund. This…
On December 8th, 2024, ExxonMobil Guyana claimed that they “adhere to the highest ethical standards and are committed to transparency and integrity in all our dealings”. They do not! On the contrary, ExxonMobil Guyana does not even consistently comply with the law. ExxonMobil rejected a valid penalty for a polluting spill, and did not pay. It waited instead until a…
Ravi Dev’s caution about Girmitiyas, former labourers or People of Indian Origin, PIO, does not have to begin or end in disappointment. (SN – 2024-12-08). He cites an example that is already appealing to politicians. ‘They hope Bharat would follow the African Union, which declared its diaspora as “Africa’s 6th Region”. This is an opening…
I thank Dr. Vishnu Bisram for pointing out an economic approach towards distributive justice in managing oil wealth in Suriname: ‘“Royalties for Everyone”, on the decision by the government of Suriname to grant a savings note (royalty shareholding certificate) of US$750 to each of its citizens, payable after 2028 with 7% interest and a contrast…
There is no provision for any effective Royalty in the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement, PSA2016. Guyana receives 2 percent as ownership rights called Royalty (usus rights). There are two other classes of rights in the design of business contracts; transformation rights and fruits of production rights. Zero value is assigned for transformation rights (abusus rights), such…
I wish to respond to the idea that the oil companies are granting Guyana a fair deal with their 50/50 billboard in which Guyana is getting one-half of the profits from sale of crude oil. Further, the ideas thrown about is half a loaf is better than nothing. This is very misleading in running a…
Guyana’s oil export led growth model leaves important gaps in Government financing that could pose sustainability threats for whichever Government is in office. One has to go back to fundamentals and ask if the engine of growth makes any contribution to the Central Government’s current or capital budget, beyond its 2 percent Royalty that Guyana…
Christopher Ram’s survey indicating an overwhelming 94% of the people wanting renegotiations of the Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), and the daily commentaries that followed, have put the Government in a state of utter confusion and madness undermining arguably the most consequential issue facing our nation. By its deeds, this Government has brandished its…
In a recent letter, Ramesh Gampat explained in plain English why it is a ‘fantasy’ to say that Guyanese are rich because of oil. After removing oil from economic calculations, Dr. Gampat showed that ‘Of the 33 countries in the Americas for which data are available, there were 17 countries with per capita income larger…
