January 1, 2021
Guyana’s President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali
Guyana still the world’s fastest-growing economy……
GPD, TORONTO, Jan 1, 2021: With a population of just more than 750,000, and once regarded as one of the poorest countries in the Southern Hemisphere, the tiny English-speaking South American nation of Guyana, closed 2020 as the fastest growing economy in the world.
Now a strategic geopolitical oil exploration hotspot, and a brand new oil producer, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indicated that Guyana ended 2020 with a Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 26.2 percent. The IMF projects that Guyana’s GDP growth will be 8.1 percent in 2021; 29.5 percent in 2022; and 22.3 percent in 2023.
Guyana’s 2020 GDP growth rate was followed by South Sudan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Benin, according to the IMF data mapper. Guyana is already producing 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
Guyana’s President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, in a New Year’s Day address to the nation, said that he was confident that the steps which the Government will take in 2021 will continue to grow the economy and improve the fortunes of all Guyanese.
“The year 2021 will be the springboard from which our nation will leap into recovery – rebuilding our economy, enhancing our people’s health and lifting up the vulnerable in our society…we must not remain a rich country of poor people,” President Ali declared.
The Guyanese Head of State was adamant that the bounty of the oil-rich nation must be shared all across the country enhancing the standard of living and the quality of life of the people – rewarding them for hard work.
“On this rainy night we leave 2020 and we embark on 2021 with every reason for optimism for our future as a nation and as a country…our economic prospects have never been brighter…our collective feet are firmly placed on the first rungs of the ladder to prosperity that is clearly within our sight,” President Ali said.
Guyana, which is projected to be producing about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day in the next decade, is already a hive of activity with scores of oil industry support companies in operation permanently changing the industrial landscape along the coastland.
In fact, if ExxonMobil maintains that level of production from the Liza Phase 1 field offshore on the Stabroek Block; brings its 220,000 barrels per day in the Liza Phase 2 field on stream in 2022; and brings the 220,000 barrels per day Payara field on stream on 2024, then it would achieve its goal of 750,000 barrels of oil per day in 2025-2026, other things being equal.
Crude oil is not the only thing that will help catapult Guyana down a never before seen transformational path to economic prosperity.
The government is working to bring natural gas to shore from the Liza field to produce much-needed electricity in an effort to boost manufacturing and production in other sectors; and bring domestic electricity rates down significantly.
Other mega projects planned in the near future include a high-rise bridge across the Demerara River; paving of the highway from Georgetown to the border with Brazil in the town of Lethem; collaborating with neighbouring Suriname to build a high-rise bridge across the Corentyne River linking the two countries; construction of a new city away from the flood-prone coastland; major housing schemes; and rebooting all other sectors including mining, forestry, agriculture and mining.
Several Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels will be operating offshore Guyana in the next five years.
