Avoiding Dutch Disease – easier said than done

Dear Editor,
Many Guyanese citizens are yet to be convinced that, over the next 25 years, we will achieve national unity, and successfully avoid or overcome the negative financial, economic, social and political effects of the nation’s major challenges and risks: [1] the resource curse (‘Dutch Disease’); [2] climate change and the degradation of our coastal and marine environments; [3] the political stalemate – in the 2011, 2015 and 2020 national elections, the two major political parties (PPP/C and APNU/AFC) won the tiniest possible majorities in Parliament (by only one seat and by an advantage of less than 2% of total votes); [4] inter-ethnic suspicions that sometimes lead to physical violence, especially against Guyanese of Indian ancestry; [5] a very high poverty rate (43.4% of the population – 338,520 persons) among all the ethnic communities of Indi-genous (Amerindian), African, Indian, Mixed, Portuguese, Chinese and European ancestry; and [6] significant corruption in the public and private sectors.

The article Avoiding Dutch Disease – easier said than done appeared first on Stabroek News.