Dr. Jeffrey Takes Aim at Guyana’s Oil Wealth and Persistent Poverty

Political scientist and former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government minister Dr. Henry Jeffrey is questioning why Guyana’s unprecedented oil wealth has not translated into a more direct and sustainable improvement in the economic circumstances of ordinary citizens.

Writing in his September 27 Future Notes column published by Village Voice News, Jeffrey contrasts Guyana’s approach to oil wealth with Suriname’s proposed “Royalties for Everyone” programme, arguing that Guyana should have been moving toward a system that gives citizens a permanent stake in the country’s natural-resource revenues.

Jeffrey pointed to a proposal announced by former Surinamese President Chandrikapersad Santokhi under which every Surinamese citizen would receive an annual US$750 savings note, earning 7 percent interest. He said the initiative was intended to turn oil wealth into tangible benefits while encouraging civic and economic participation and the creation of generational wealth.

He contrasted that approach with Guyana, which has substantially larger estimated recoverable oil resources and a significantly higher estimated GNI per capita.

Guyana’s oil production has transformed the economy. The World Bank reported that GDP grew by 43.4 percent in 2024, with oil production reaching 225 million barrels. However, the Bank also notes that the latest available poverty estimate is from 2019, when poverty stood at 48.4 percent, and says recent data on poverty reduction is unavailable. Food prices have also been rising faster than overall inflation, with low-income households particularly affected.

It is this contrast between extraordinary economic expansion and continuing hardship that forms the centre of Jeffrey’s argument.

“The discovery of oil has made it possible for us to look at development and citizenship differently and begin to work towards a UBI for every citizen of Guyana.”

Jeffrey said he made that argument in 2017, proposing that 10 percent of Guyana’s oil revenues could be permanently allocated toward such a system. He contends that an initial modest payment could gradually grow into a universal basic income as oil revenues increased.

According to Jeffrey, the PPP government rejected that approach, opting instead for periodic cash grants which he described as insufficient to fundamentally change the economic position of poor households.

“…thus Guyana’s great lament of poverty amid plenty.”

Jeffrey also connected the distribution of economic wealth to broader questions of political accountability and governance. He criticised the government’s approach to public-sector wages and cited recent calls by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentary leader Dr. Terrence Campbell for the minimum wage of public servants to be doubled to G$200,000 per month.

Jeffrey argued that conventional political appeals for better wages would have limited effect in what he regards as an insufficiently accountable political system.

His assessment of the PPP government is particularly severe. He accused the party of attempting to strengthen its political position by economically and politically marginalising African Guyanese, and questioned whether government programmes are being designed primarily around broad national development or political consolidation.

Those assertions are Jeffrey’s political analysis and are not independently established findings.

Jeffrey also raised concerns about Guyana’s 2025 General and Regional elections. He further expressed concern about the government’s development of a new bank and suggested that lending and digital infrastructure could potentially be used for political purposes. Those claims were presented in his column as his own assessment rather than as established findings.

His broader argument is that Guyana’s oil boom has created an opportunity to rethink the relationship between citizenship, wealth and government. That debate comes after more than US$8.7 billion in petroleum revenues has flowed into the Natural Resource Fund since its inception, raising the question of how much of the country’s unprecedented oil wealth is translating into lasting economic security for ordinary Guyanes

Rather than relying principally on individual grants and government programmes, Jeffrey is advocating a system in which citizens have a permanent and clearly defined stake in the country’s natural-resource wealth.