Guyana’s economy recorded a 33% growth rate last year, in comparison to the 62.3 growth rate in 2022, with the traditional non-oil sector expanding by 11%, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh announced during the presentation of the 2024 National Budget this afternoon.
The economy is expected to see continued growth this year.
In presenting the fifth budget of the current PPP/C administration under the theme, Staying the Course: Building Prosperity For All, the Finance Minister was quick to point out that while there has been positive growth in majority of the sectors, there has also been contractions in some of the major sectors.
He said the contractions must be examined in the context of both the domestic and international markets, explaining that Guyana was not immune to global economic shocks.
Sectoral Performances
It was announced that Guyana continued to record positive growth in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Sector which expanded by 7% down from 11% in 2022.
The Sugar industry expanded by 28%, while the Rice Sector recorded a 7% increase in growth.
The Fisheries sector which contracted in 2022, saw the reversal of the contraction last year and a growth rate of 38.7%.
The Mining and Quarrying sectors as well as the Oil and Gas sector were the main drivers of the country’s positive economic growth, with the mining and quarrying sector recording a 42.6% growth rate and the Oil and Gas sector expanding by 45.9%, with production of 142.9 million of barrels of oil compared with 101.4 million in 2022.
The Bauxite industry did not perform well last year, contracting by 20.4%.
One of the country’s major export earners- Gold, continued to record sluggish performances.
The Government and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association complained last year about the poor declaration from some categories of miners.
In 2022, the sector contracted by 2.5%, and last year the losses deepened with a contraction rate of 11.2%.
The other sub-sectors comprising of sand, stones, diamond and manganese grew by 22% in 2023.
Stone and Sand alone saw 98% and 28% expansion, respectively last year, due to the increase construction activities in the country. The declaration of diamonds saw a steep decline by more than 19%.
“As with recent years, the estimated growth is driven largely by the expansion in oil and gas and of course, the support services industry, which when combined with growth observed in the other mining industry, outweighs decline that were observed in gold and bauxite mining,” the Finance Minister said.
Additionally, the Manufacturing Sector expanded by 25% in 2023 with growth recorded in all three sub-categories.
The services sector expanded by 10.3%, with wholesale and retail trade, financial insurance activities as well as storage and transport activities performing well.
The construction sector also grew by 26.8% last year.
The Minister said, while the global market is expected to remain volatile, Guyana’s economy is expected to see steady growth.
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