Guyana To Escape Regional Recession, Says World Bank Report

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, April 14, 2020 (CMC) – Guyana is expected to see an overall economic growth, of 51.7 percent for this year, with further projections, over the next two years.

The World Bank, in its recent semi-annual report of the Latin America and Caribbean region, titled “The Economy in the Time of COVID-19”, said the South American republic will, in 2021 and 2022, see an 8.7 percent and 2.6 percent GDP growth, respectively.

The report stated that Guyana’s economy had expanded by some 4.7 percent in 2019, with anticipated oil revenues spurring expansion in non-traded sectors.

It said oil production is projected to boost the country’s GDP growth to an unprecedented level, this year.

The report said, however, that while this could transform Guyana, there are risks, as illustrated by a “still incomplete election outcome, and compounded by falling oil prices and the COVID-19 epidemic. Weak public service delivery and monitoring systems constrain the development of policies to reduce poverty and protect the vulnerable”.

Guyana remains locked in an electoral crisis, more than six weeks after citizens went to the polls on March 2, 2020.