QUESTION: Hi Martin, thanks for including little Guyana in your blog today. I was born in Canada, but my parents emigrated from Guyana decades ago. I haven’t been back yet. Nevertheless, I am eager to see great things become of the country, have been tracking the oil industry developments there, and am invested in it as well. I want to see this country elevate out of poverty as a result of all of this but I am concerned about lack of strong and moral leadership and corruption. If you don’t mind me asking, what makes you so confident that democracy will rule out? Growth is growth, but all we have to do is look across the pond to Africa to see the mix of growth and corruption!
Thanks as always sir – your teachings and insights have reshaped me many times over.
Regards, D
ANSWER: I am not certain that Guyana will be the perfect democracy. South America has historically had a problem with corruption in government. The US sanctions against Venezuela are really stupid. The economy was turning down dramatically and the government has done everything possible against the people. The US sanctions merely give people an excuse to point to the US as the cause of the economic decline despite the fact that the sanctions were put on in response to the events and not before them. I am opposed to sanctions anyhow because they never seem to work. They boosted the support for Putin instead of causing the people to blame Putin. This is really brain dead.
Nevertheless, simply because you can invest in Guyana is a major difference in comparison to Venezuela. There will be corruption. That seems to be systemic in South/Latin America, but it is also a rising problem globally. Hopefully, they will still keep the free market as long as they get their fair share under the table unlike Venezuela. We have added the currency to Socrates.
