The last time Guyana held elections in 2020, bitter disputes over the results lasted for months, straining the country’s young democracy. Fortunately, this month’s voting played out with considerably less drama, as President Irfaan Ali easily won a second five-year term. Still, the country faces significant challenges that could imperil its galloping oil and gas industry and leave it vulnerable to incursions by Venezuela, its authoritarian neighbor.
On the surface, everything is coming up roses for Guyana. Since the country began producing oil from offshore wells in 2019, it has seen explosive double-digit economic growth rates. Crude production is now headed toward 1 million barrels per day. Billions of dollars in new hydrocarbon revenues have turned the country into a South American petrostate, with an ambitious infrastructure development plan featuring new hospitals, a bridge over the Demerara River and a major coastal highway.
On a recent visit to Georgetown, Guyana’s tropical capital, the results of this new investment were already visible. Hotel construction is booming, and a new helicopter service now offers business travelers a quick ride from downtown to the international airport, bypassing a bumpy 25-mile drive. The government also plans to redevelop the waterfront by the capital city’s historic seawall. Such is the ambition and pace of public spending that Guyanese leaders like to say they are “sprinting a marathon.”
