The GDP per capita graph of Guyana looks like a twitter joke. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, this ex-British colony of 1 million has gone from being an seemingly unremarkable middle-income country, sandwiched between Suriname and Venezuela, to a petro-state whose wealth-per-head is comparable to Switzerland and Norway. And in fact, this is rather an interesting country, even without accounting for the ludicrous and recent windfall. Considered the land of 'six races', the largest proportion of Guyanese are ethnic Indians, followed by the descendants of enslaved Africans, and then indigenous peoples. A rather bleak fact about Guyana is that the suicide rate among the Indo-Guyanese is extremely high, comparable only to certain Inuit peoples. Guyana is part of the cricketing 'supra-nation' of the West Indies and is the only South American country to hold membership in the Commonwealth. Does anyone know anything more about Guyana? I would in particular like to learn more about to what extent this unprecedented influx of cash has impacted the lives of regular people.
If I had to make a guess, there's a dozen or so patriarchs/landed gentry and a small clads of oil-adjacent employees who are raising the GDP per capita. Everyone else is dirt poor. I hate to generalize but this is what will often happen in primary-resource rich thirdie nations (cf. Venezuela, Pinochet's Chile, pre-revolutionary Cuba).
Unless there's some sovereign wealth fund it probably isn't effecting the average citizen much at all.
Anonymous :
25 days ago :
№ 13251
>>13254
>>13251
>and they only draw income by housing Australian inmates on their island.
A fate worse than nuclear annihilation.
Is Guyana going to be the new Nauru? Nauru had a startlingly fast rags-to-riches story, though they made their fortune off of guano deposits on the island and lost it in just as much time due to failed investments and seemingly no other source of income. They were literally one of the wealthiest nations and now almost all of their population lives in obesity-stricken poverty, and they only draw income by housing Australian inmates on their island.
Anonymous :
24 days ago :
№ 13254
>>13255
>>13254
inmates of the Australian state, not inmates who are Australians
>>13251
Is Guyana going to be the new Nauru? Nauru had a startlingly fast rags-to-riches story, though they made their fortune off of guano deposits on the island and lost it in just as much time due to failed investments and seemingly no other source of income. They were literally one of the wealthiest nations and now almost all of their population lives in obesity-stricken poverty, and they only draw income by housing Australian inmates on their island.
>and they only draw income by housing Australian inmates on their island.
A fate worse than nuclear annihilation.