CIVICUS discusses Guyana’s recent election and the challenges of managing its oil wealth with Thomas Singh, Director of the University of Guyana’s Green Institute.
Following the discovery of offshore oil reserves in 2015, Guyana has become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. While oil revenues have funded new infrastructure projects, critics argue that Guyana’s fossil fuel wealth could bring with it growing corruption, economic inequality and concentration of political power unless there’s a well-thought-out development strategy to guide it. In the 1 September presidential election, President Irfaan Ali secured a second term amid questions about democratic fairness and resource distribution.