Opinion
Why is it fair for Exxon to pay the US government hundreds of billions of US dollars in taxes on oil profits but none to Guyana?
Taxes are fundamental to developing the Western world’s prestigious institutions and first-class infrastructure. In Canada, heart attack surgery is free. In the US, for a few dollars, you can hop on to a NYC bullet train that rockets you down the tracks to Boston. These services wouldn’t be affordable without the taxes paid by major…
Guyana exploited on oil Exploration and Recovery
There are countless flaws in the oil contracts between Guyana and the multinational companies. Guyana has been shafted (exploited or get very little) in the contracts with oil companies as reported so many times in KN.It is reported in KN and the international media that oil companies have paid Brazil some US$2.2 billion for rights…
Oil is having an impact on Guyana’s exchange rate
I have written over ten columns on the foreign exchange (FX) market since 2009. These essays are direct in the sense that they address explicitly the question of what is determining the exchange rate and the quantity traded in the local market. In 2017, I wrote a six-part series to address some of the issues…
Guyana through incompetence and negligence failed to negotiate a signing bonus of USD 1 billion
Early Saturday morning, Nigel Hinds and a number of his colleagues were in Guyana handing out food to the homeless. We saw several pictures on the world- wide Internet. We find the pictures very moving. But more than that: they capture for us a sense of incompetence and negligence by the Government of Guyana.Given we…
Response to criticisms of TIGI’s claim that the petroleum contracts are in breach of the Procurement Act
In the Thursday September 12, 2019 edition of Stabroek News (SN), our claim that the award of the petroleum exploration licences was subject to the Public Procurement Act was rejected by the Public Procurement Commission and by Dr. Anand Goolsarran, a former auditor general and past president of TIGI. Our column to which these individuals…
Chapter #8 – Exxon Contract: The public policy issues
In a succinct and elegant statement, Thomas Dye defines public policy as “anything a government chooses to do or not to do” (Dye, 1972: 2). Public policy therefore has a wide reach and affects all sectors of society. It encompasses laws, any actions of government, funding priorities and the regulations that reflect given positions, attitudes,…