WITH the highest project growth rate in the Latin American and Caribbean region again this year, Guyana remains on course for exponential advancement.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest report, Guyana’s Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow by 33.9 per cent in 2024.

The IMF had previously reported that Guyana’s economy would record a 26.6 per cent growth.
In its December 2023 Article IV Consultation Report published last December, the IMF had stated that the Guyanese economy has tripled in size since the start of oil extraction (end- 2019), from one of the lowest GDP per capita in Latin America and the Caribbean in the early nineties.

In 2023, the country recorded a significant economic growth of 33 per cent, with a “stronger-than-expected” expansion in non-oil Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 11.7 per cent.

During the presentation of the country’s fiscal package for the year 2024 back in January, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh had said that the growth recorded last year significantly outstripped the 25.1 per cent growth and 7.9 per cent non-oil growth that was initially projected for 2023.

“The expansion of the overall real economy in 2023 can be largely attributed to continued growth in oil-and-gas activity, with the notable achievement of first oil at the new floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, Prosperity, in November,” Dr. Singh had told the National Assembly.

Additionally, while growth in the non-oil economy was mainly driven by expansions in the construction and services sectors, notable increases were also observed in all subsectors within agriculture, forestry, and fishing and manufacturing, as well as in the other mining and quarrying sub-sector.

“Our government’s policies continue to be focused on supporting growth in the traditional pillars of the economy while managing the oil-and-gas sector effectively,” Dr. Singh said.

In February, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) had also revealed that the region’s economy is well on its way to making a full rebound from the shocks brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic and other international crises, with Guyana’s increased production of oil and gas being “a significant driver” of regional growth.

CDB’s Director of Economics Ian Durant had stated that global trade and supply challenges, compounded by international geopolitical crises such as the Russia and Ukraine war, and the most recent conflict in Palestine saw the increase in international commodity prices; however, the Caribbean region has remained resilient and continue to rebound from the economic shocks.

According to Durant, the CDB estimates that the region grew by 6.7 per cent, with higher oil production in Guyana being a large contributor to the average regional growth in 2023.
According to the CDB, the country’s production increased by 35.2 per cent, and this influenced growth in non-oil sectors, contributing to the overall expansion of the country’s economy by roughly 32.9 per cent.

The CDB forecasts that an average growth of 8.6 per cent for its 19 borrowing countries in 2024, increases in commodity exports by 18.2 per cent, and an increase in service exporters by 2.1 per cent will contribute to further growth.
The further growth of the region, Durant said, will be “largely attributable to increased oil production in Guyana and continued expansion of the [regions’] tourism industry”.