Gov’t says has put measures in place to avoid resource curse

Dr Damien King

Amid a bleak prognosis by a Jamaican economist about Guyana’s oil-based future, the government yesterday pushed back, citing a string of measures it has put in place since 2020 which it said will help the country avoid  the resource curse.

Jamaican economist and University of the West Indies lecturer Dr Damien King has forecast doom for Guyana as he believes it would fall victim to the resource curse because it lacks strong institutions to prevent corruption.

“You mark my words, Guyana is going to go nowhere,” the Jamaica Observer quoted King as saying in an interview. According to the newspaper, he said the oil revenues could cause corruption to increase in the country and make it worse off than it was before accessing the wealth.