GUYANA – Despite commencing oil production in 2020, the Government of Guyana (GoG) has grown the country’s debt by a significant USD 4.2B as at the end of December 2024. In 2019, the country’s debt was USD 1.8B; according to Annual Reports from the Bank of Guyana (BoG), the nation’s debt grew by 46.7% in 2020 to USD 2.6B. In 2021, the debt surged to USD 3.1B, and in 2022 this trend continued with the total stock of debt climbing to USD 3.7B. In 2023, debt increased further by 23.4% to USD 4.5B while this grew to a massive USD 6B at the end of 2024, as indicated by Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh last week. The Irfaan Ali-led administration has often touted the low GDP to debt service ratio, meaning that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) far outweighs the country’s annual payment repayment on loans.

For instance, Dr. Singh pointed out the country’s progress over the past four years in this regard. He said, “Importantly, over the last 4 years, the ratio of total PPG (Public and Publicly Guaranteed Debt) debt-to-GDP plummeted by more than 20 percentage points, from 47.4 percent at the end of 2020 to 24.3 percent at the end of 2024. This provides clear indication of a marked improvement in Guyana’s capacity to maintain public debt into the future, without the need for fiscal adjustments, and places Guyana in the position of having one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios worldwide. Indeed, the latest available statistics rank Guyana as having the second lowest debt-to-GDP ratio within the Western Hemisphere in 2024.” It should be noted that the country’s growth is GDP, while largely reflective of exports from the petroleum sector, is not the real value that the country received from the sector. (Kaieteurnews)