Economy's growing reliance on oil sector is worrying -Dr. Campbell

Although Guyana’s economy grew by 33% at half year, the Opposition APNU today said that a deeper look at the mid-year report shows that the country’s economy is dominated by the oil and gas sector, while other sectors, such as Agriculture and services have contracted.

Guyana’s non-oil economy grew by 10.1%, down from about 14%.

APNU Member of Parliament, Dr. Terrence Campbell, said these are early signs of an over-reliance on the oil and gas sector at the expense of the country’s traditional sectors.

He told a news conference that not only does it point to neglect, but it also sends a warning to the country’s economy that if the oil and gas sector does not perform, then the country’s economy could record negative growth.

“Most troubling, Agriculture, forestry and fishing contracted by 0.5% with other crops down 6.4%, coal crops fell 19.1%, spices 17.7%, beans and cereals 5.7% and vegetables 4.2%. Gains in Sugar, rice, livestock, forestry and fishing, did not prevent the combine sector’s decline, this is an urgent food production warning and not and incidental statistics,” Campbell said.

He said the decline in the Agriculture sector is concerning, explaining that while the government has blamed heavy rainfall for the first half of the year and has projected the current El Nino weather pattern to have an impact in the second half, it must show how its investment is protecting farmers against both flooding and drought.

“We call for funded region-specific recovery plans, reliable drainage and irrigation, water storage, extension service, affordable credit, cold storage and market access with public targets for production and food affordability,” Dr. Campbell said.

And with the full year non-oil growth forecast revised downwards from 10.8% to 10.2%, Dr. Campbell believes that it could slide further.

He said a number of Agriculture sub-sectors are projected to see massive decline, and he wants the Government to provide urgent answers to Parliament and the people of Guyana.

“The scale of these downward revisions demand scrutiny of the assumptions behind budget 2026. These are reduced growth projection and not cuts to annual spending allocations. Not every forecast worsened, overall GDP growth raise from 16,2% to 20.8% and construction from 25.4% to 27.7% but stronger oil led growth must not obscure weaker expectations for important non-oil activities and economic diversification.,” Mr. Campbell said.

Campbell said the Government’s borrowing is becoming a problem. He said the country’s deficit after grants nearly tripled after the first half of 2025 and 2026 from US$35.9 Billion to $105.6 Billion.