Latest update July 27th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jul 18, 2023 News
Kaieteur News – Guyana’s total stock of public and publicly guaranteed debt increased by 2.3 percent or US$ 84.5 million in the first quarter of 2023, a recent Central Bank report said.
The document noted that this sum would take the nation’s total debt stock to US$3.7B from the end of December 2022 position. According to Bank of Guyana, the stock of total domestic debt grew by 3.7 percent to US$2.2B. It said this is an increase over the US$2.1B recorded at the end of December 2022. It was also disclosed that the stock of external public debt increased by 0.5 percent to US$1.6B.
With respect to domestic debt, Central Bank said this increased mainly on account of growth in the stock of treasury bills at the end of the review period. This news agency understands that the stock of treasury bills increased by 7.1 percent mainly as a result of higher issuances of treasury bills for budgetary support.
As for the increase in the stock of external debt, Central Bank said this resulted mainly from 1.0 percent or US$9.1M growth in multilateral debt stock from the end of December 2022 position. The financial regulator said this was largely due to increased disbursement from the International Development Association (IDA) by 10.6 percent to US$129.9M from the end of the December 2022 position.
Central Bank further noted that there was a 0.1 percent or US$0.5 million reduction in the stock of bilateral debt owed to Non-Paris Club creditors from end December 2022, which resulted from higher debt service payments.
Speaking to domestic debt service payments, Bank of Guyana said this increased by 49.8 percent or G$283.5M to G$852.9M from G$569.3 million in March 2022. Kaieteur News understands that principal payments increased by 12.3 percent or G$30 million, likewise, interest payments increased significantly by 78.0 percent or G$253.5 million.
In terms of external debt service payments, Central Bank said this increased by 27.9 percent to US$34.4 million primarily on account of higher principal repayments to bilateral creditors and higher interest payments to multilateral creditors. Expounding further, Central Bank said debt repayments to the Inter-American Development Bank which accounts for 74.9 percent of debt repayments to multilateral creditors and 39.8 percent of total external debt service, increased by 55.5 percent to US$13.7 million as a result of higher interest repayments during the review period.
Likewise, debt repayments to the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) rose by 11.6 percent to US$3.4 million. Similarly, Central Bank said debt repayments to the EximBank of China, which accounts for 73.1 percent of debt repayments to bilateral creditors and 32.6 percent of total external debt service, increased by 5.0 percent to US$11.1 million as a result of higher principal repayments during the review period. Looking ahead, Central Bank said total public debt is expected to expand to US$4.4B, due to increases in both domestic and external debt stock, while debt service payments are expected to rise.
Only last week United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres disclosed that half the world is sinking into a development disaster, fuelled by a crushing debt crisis, noting that some 3.3 billion people – almost half of humanity live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on education or health.
He made the comments as the UN launched a report titled: ‘A WORLD OF DEBT’ last Wednesday. The document was prepared by the UN Global Crisis Response Group and the five UN Regional Commissions: ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA. According to the report, public debt around the world has been on the rise over the last decades. Cascading crises in recent years triggered a sharp acceleration of this trend. As a result, global public debt has increased more than fivefold since the year 2000, clearly outpacing global GDP, which tripled over the same time. In 2022, global public debt – comprising general government domestic and external debt– reached a record USD 92 trillion. Developing countries owe almost 30% of the total, of which roughly 70% is attributable to China, India and Brazil. The report said in Latin America and the Caribbean, developing countries are devoting more money to interest payments rather than to investment. The report noted that across the world, rising debt burdens are keeping countries from investing in sustainable development. “An increasing number of countries find themselves trapped in a situation where both their development and their ability to manage debt is compromised. Currently, at least 19 developing countries are spending more on interest than on education and 45 are spending more on interest than on health. In total, 48 countries are home to 3.3 billion people, whose lives are directly affected by underinvestment in education or health due to large interest payment burdens,” the report added.
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