GEORGETOWN – A wave of anxiety is sweeping through Guyana’s economy, replacing the euphoria of the oil boom with dread, as Opposition MP and APNU Parliamentary Lead Dr. Terrence Campbell issued a chilling warning that the nation’s currency is on the brink of devaluation. Campbell did not mince words, claiming the government deliberately concealed a foreign exchange (FX) “crisis” from the public until safely after the September elections.
The veteran politician described the government’s desperate interventions, injecting US$1.2 billion into the system this year, as an unsustainable panic measure. He drew a sharp contrast between the past and present, noting Central Bank interventions went from zero in 2020 to potentially $2 billion in 2025, arguing this massive, unprecedented effort is proof of a deeply flawed strategy rooted in “duplicity.”
For the ordinary Guyanese family and small business owner, the warning hits close to home. Campbell claimed that the promise of a stronger Guyana dollar has evaporated, replaced by the ghost of currency collapse, thanks to what he called “fiscal recklessness.” He detailed how this alleged recklessness manifests: domestic government borrowing allegedly exploded from $142 billion in 2020 to a staggering $857 billion by August 2025.
This massive debt, Campbell argued, funds “poor quality infrastructure” that is sucking up FX without delivering export revenue, leaving the backbone of the economy dangerously exposed.Further compounding the problem, Campbell highlighted a crisis of integrity in the non-oil sector, pointing to plummeting gold production and rampant gold smuggling that allegedly bleeds an estimated US$500 million out of the economy every year.
In a stunning accusation that links politics to illicit activity, Campbell alleged that “Key supporters of the government are involved in this smuggling,” underscoring why the President’s proposals failed to address this gaping leak. The politician warned that the government’s new FX controls are bureaucratic handcuffs that risk dragging the country back to the devastating currency control regime of the 1970s and 1980s.
He dismissed the attack on personal credit card use as a misplaced attack on “small entrepreneurs,” claiming the real fight is against systemic abuse, not local business logistics. Campbell’s final message is a stark warning for every household: without an immediate change in policy, the economic stability Guyanese citizens crave will remain a mirage, vulnerable to the mounting debt and alleged fiscal irresponsibility.
