Dear Editor,
Guyana has earned more than US$8.25 billion from oil in just six years, yet over 60 per cent of what should have been savings for future generations has already been withdrawn from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF). By the end of November 2025, almost US$5 billion had been taken out under the banner of “development” and “transformation,” even as the lived reality for most Guyanese has barely shifted. At the same time, in the country, roughly only 630,000 of citizens effectively receive the equivalent of a mere G$100,000 each when the withdrawals are averaged out – a token share of an historic windfall.
The government boasts that oil now finances about 37 per cent of the 2025 national budget and that total oil revenues for this year alone are projected at about US$2.54 billion
The total outflow or withdrawal for this year stands at US $ 2.46 billion. A whopping 97% of inflows. Because the government is withdrawing nearly as much as it is earning, the “savings” in the fund are growing primarily through interest income (which was over US$140 million this year) and the small surplus between inflows and outflows.
But the central fact remains: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build real, intergenerational wealth is being rapidly drained through the budget with no clear, public ledger linking withdrawals to concrete, measurable improvements in people’s lives. This is not prudent stewardship; it looks and feels like financial squandermania, misappropriation dressed up as fiscal policy.
Under the Natural Resource Fund Act, every cent withdrawn from the NRF must be transferred to the Consolidated Fund and spent through the normal budget process. What the law does not compel – and what the administration has resisted – is a transparent schedule that shows how each year’s withdrawals are used: which capital projects, which social programmes, which regions, which contractors, and what results. Without that level of disclosure, there is no meaningful way for citizens to verify whether nearly US$5 billion in oil savings were invested, wasted, or siphoned off into political patronage and inflated contracts.
Meanwhile, the government promotes small cash-transfer initiatives as proof that “the people are benefiting,” including one-off grants and limited social programmes that amount to crumbs relative to total withdrawals. When the scale of the oil outflows is compared with what reaches ordinary households, the imbalance is glaring: billions flow out of the NRF, while the average Guyanese can barely point to G$100,000 in direct or indirect benefit from this supposed “transformational” wealth. That is a structural injustice, not a policy detail.
This moment demands a firm, coordinated response from the parliamentary opposition and wider civil society. The opposition must use every tool available in the National Assembly to put the facts on the record:
- Demand a comprehensive “Oil Money Use Report” for each year since first oil, mapping every withdrawal to specific projects and programmes.
- Press for a standing parliamentary committee with power to scrutinise NRF withdrawals and summoning authority over ministers and technocrats.
- Table motions and questions forcing the government to disclose project costs, financing sources, and the exact share funded from oil, as opposed to loans or other revenues.
Civil society, professional bodies, and the independent media must back this up by treating NRF oversight as a democratic emergency, not a technical issue. The people of Guyana are entitled to know why more than 60 per cent of their oil savings – their children’s and grandchildren’s inheritance – has already been spent, and why the tangible benefits amount, in effect, to a meagre G$100,000 per head in a country that now leads the world in per capita oil production.
The message to those in power must be clear and uncompromising: show us the money, account for every dollar, and stop raiding the future of an entire nation under the pretext of development.
Yours truly,
Hemdutt Kumar
