Things are heating up in Guyana as general elections get closer.

So Guyana’s general elections are set for Monday, September 1, just two days before Jamaica’s election. 

Speaking on Taking Stock recently, Guyanese Business Analyst Youni Abdul explained that, of course, the country’s oil and gas industry is the biggest factor in this election. Guyana is one of the fastest-growing oil producers in the world and is very close to producing a million barrels of oil per day.

Business stability and national security are also hot button issues, but how to use the country’s new oil wealth is the really big one.

Guyana has six political parties on the ballot this election.  Some of them have floated ideas about renegotiating contracts and extending more credit and grants to citizens.

The ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP), led by President Irfaan Ali, has been emphasising infrastructure development during their term. 

“If you come to Guyana, you’ll see it’s not the same as it was seven years ago. There are roads where bushes used to be, major highways where bushes used to be and the criticism that the opposition is saying ‘oh well we can’t eat the roads’ and that brings me to my second point a lot of the other parties have said well how are we going to use the oil revenue. Because remember Guyana issued a cash grant last year GUY$100,000 around US$500. So a lot of parties are saying they’re going to boost that some as high as US$2,000 per person.”

As Youni pointed out, for businesses, continuity is a major key. 

“Businesses thrive on predictability and continunity. So whichever party is in power post election, they’re going to be looking at, what regimes will be fixed, if there’s any improvements, if there’s anything that will drastically change because this could impact Guyana’s investment profile.”

Finally, if you remember Guyana’s last election, it took about five months for the results to be finalised. This created a big stink internationally. But the country has put in some electoral reforms to try and avoid that.

Polling stations will now be required to post results within three hours, and international observers are already on the ground to ensure a smoother process.

And that’s the bottom line.