GEORGETOWN, Guyana – While the Government of Guyana continues to host a seemingly endless series of celebratory dinners, cultural extravaganzas, launches and entertainment events, many ordinary Guyanese say they are struggling to afford basic necessities and increasingly feel disconnected from the country’s widely celebrated economic boom.

In conversations with residents across Georgetown and on social media, frustration with the rising cost of living was evident.

“Every week there is another concert, another dinner, another celebration,” one woman said while shopping at a city market. “But I am standing here trying to figure out whether I can buy bread and cheese for my children. The government seems to be celebrating a prosperity that many of us don’t feel.”