OP-ED: “Trinidad Isn’t the Cause of our Forex Problem; Guyana’s Real Threat Is Its Backward Financial Infrastructure”

A recent viral TikTok video by a Trinidadian commentator has stirred up quite the conversation among Guyanese social media users. In a sharp and unapologetic critique, the speaker dismantled the myth that Trinidad and Tobago is responsible for Guyana’s foreign exchange (Forex) issues, pointing instead to the rotting core of Guyana’s financial system.

Was it harsh? Yes.
Was it arrogant? Maybe.
Was it wrong? Absolutely not.

In fact, the critique hits at the heart of a dangerous illusion many Guyanese leaders continue to peddle, that Guyana’s economic bottlenecks are the fault of foreign actors or hostile neighbors, rather than the direct result of our own financial underdevelopment and policy negligence.

It is absolutely ridiculous that a country experiencing one of the fastest-growing oil economies on Earth does not have a functional, modern financial infrastructure. The Trinidadian TikToker rightly pointed out that Guyana has no central securities depository, no modern regulatory framework for capital markets, and virtually non-existent secondary market activity.

For a country swimming in oil revenue, this is embarrassing.

What Is a Secondary Market—and Why Should Guyanese Care?

A secondary market is where investors buy and sell financial securities like stocks and bonds after the initial issuance. It is the lifeblood of a functioning capitalist economy. It creates liquidity, allows investors to exit positions, and provides the pricing mechanisms necessary for transparent, trustworthy investment.

In Guyana, however, the secondary market is “almost zero,” as the critic put it.

This means that when investors put their money into Guyana, they have no way to get it back out easily. There’s no vibrant stock exchange. There’s no bond market. There’s no ecosystem of financial tools that would allow capital to flow efficiently and transparently. The result? Investors stay away. Or worse, Guyanese with money take their capital abroad.

This leads to what economists call capital flight, when individuals and businesses move their money out of the country because they have no confidence in its financial systems. And this, in turn, creates pressure on the local currency and on the availability of foreign exchange. The exact thing we’ve been blaming Trinidad for.

So no, Trinidad is not draining our currency reserves.
Our own wealthy citizens are.

They earn in Guyana, but they bank in Miami. They do this not because they’re unpatriotic, but because Guyana’s financial system gives them no confidence. No protection. No flexibility. No roadmap to grow or secure their money.

The attempt to blame Trinidad for our Forex shortage is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. It shifts the national conversation away from the reforms we need to make, and fosters a false sense of nationalism rooted in denial.

If we want Guyana to be taken seriously as a financial hub in the region, we need to clean our own house first. That means:

• Modernizing our financial regulatory framework
• Establishing a central securities depository
• Building a functional, transparent stock and bond market
• Incentivizing local capital to stay here—not flee

Oil revenues alone will not save us from economic stagnation or crisis. Without the right infrastructure to manage, invest, and grow our wealth, we will remain a raw-resource exporter with a colonial-era financial system, and that is a recipe for inequality, instability, and exploitation.

A Wake-Up Call from TikTok

That the most honest and accurate financial critique of Guyana in recent months came from a Trinidadian TikTok user should tell us something. We’ve become too comfortable spinning patriotic narratives while ignoring the foundational elements of a modern economy.

This is not a time to be defensive. It is a time to be introspective.

Guyana has the potential to be the economic powerhouse of the region, but that power can only be realized if we confront the truth about our financial failings and commit to structural reform.

Trinidad isn’t the problem. We are. And the sooner we admit that, the sooner we can build the Guyana we keep pretending already exists.