Consistent decline in Guyana’s public debt, decares ECLAC
/ Our Today
administrator
The once struggling Guyana has made a complete turnaround, becoming a nation with a public debt that continues to trend downward, declared the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
In one of its latest reports titled, ‘Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2024‘, ECLAC noted that, “Guyana’s public debt has been falling since 2022, owing to high rates of output growth, close to 40 per cent in real terms in 2023, reflecting the start of offshore oil production.”
In addition, the report noted that Guyana’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio fell by an impressive 16 percentage points between 2021 and 2022, as a result of a 62.3 per cent increase in economic output in real terms, due to the commencement of offshore oil and gas production.
According to the report, “this increase was due to the central government’s first withdrawal from the sovereign wealth fund set up to manage the country’s oil revenues (the Natural Resource Fund), with a view to financing public investment in priority sectors.”
Dr Ashni Singh, senior minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for finance, argued his government has been borrowing prudently to finance crucial investment initiatives and to ramp up social programmes, as among the steps taken leading to the debt reduction.
“As the economy grows, our capacity to borrow increases and we intend to use that capacity to finance an aggressive programme to modernize and transform our country and improve the lives of Guyanese peoples,” Dr Singh had said in a recent interview.
Comments