Guyana’s debt climbs to US$6B

Jan 18, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News- As of December 31, 2024, Guyana’s debt has climbed to nearly US$6 billion, standing at US$5.993 billion. This marks a significant increase from the US$4.5 billion recorded at the end of December 2023.

The update was disclosed by the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance and Public Service, Dr. Ashni Singh, during his 2025 Budget speech on Friday afternoon.

Giving the updated figure of Total Public and Publicly Guaranteed (PPG) debt, the minister said, “Guyana’s total public and publicly guaranteed debt amounted to US$5.993 billion at the end of 2024, mainly on account of net inflows from our external and domestic creditors.”

Dr. Singh explained that notwithstanding the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government’s transformative development agenda over the last four years, it has prioritized responsible management of Guyana’s public debt.

He elaborated that external PPG debt reached US$2.2 billion by the end of 2024, while domestic PPG debt rose to US$3.7 billion. Comparing mid-year figures, external PPG debt stood at US$1.9 billion as of June 2024, and domestic PPG debt was recorded at US$3.1 billion during the same period. This underscores a notable increase in both categories during the latter half of the year.

Moreover, he said that over the last four years Guyana’s ratio of total PPG debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped by over 20%. The minister said that the debt to GDP ratio was 47.4% at the end of 2020 and by the end of 2024, it had reduced to 24.3%.

Minister Singh said, “this provides an indication of a marked indication in Guyana’s capacity to maintain public debt into the future without the need for fiscal adjustment, and places Guyana in the position of having one of the lowest debts to GDP ratios worldwide…”

He boasted that the latest available statistics rank Guyana as having the second lowest debt to GDP ratio within the Western Hemisphere.

Dr. Singh also disclosed that the country’s debt service increased to US$196.1 million up from US$177.5 million in 2023.  External debt service rose to US$124.9 million from US$101 million. This increase is on the account of increased payments to bilateral and multilateral creditors. Domestic debt service contracted to US$71.2 million US dollars in 2024 from US$76.1 million in 2023.

Minister Singh said, “this decline was due to the completion of repayments under an infamous government guaranteed bond issued by National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) in 2018 by the APNU + AFC government, but subsequently transferred to the books of the central government.”

Moreover, he also stated that in 2020, the ratio of public debt service to government revenue has fallen to 5.2% by the end of 2024.

Early 2024, the government got the green light to increase the ceilings on both domestic and external debt.  The domestic public debt ceiling has been increased to $1.5 trillion, up from $750 billion from its last revision. Meanwhile, a new external borrowing ceiling of $1.5 trillion has been approved, after its last increase to $900 billion. This move was part of a broader financial strategy to increase the nation’s capacity, in order to finance its $1.146 trillion 2024 budget, including several large-scale infrastructure projects.

Kaieteur News had reported that Guyana’s total debt had risen sharply to US$5.063 billion by mid-2024, according to the Ministry of Finance’s Mid-Year Report.

As of the end of June 2024, external PPG debt totaled US$1,924.2 million.

The ministry had stated that this increase is attributed to positive net flows from multilateral creditors such as the World Bank’s International Development Association and the Caribbean Development Bank, as well as from bilateral creditors including China, Canada, India, and UK Export Finance.

Multilateral creditors hold the largest share of external PPG debt at 63.4%, followed by bilateral creditors at 35.1%, and private creditors at 1.5%.  Notably, the report states that the external PPG debt stock is projected to grow to US$2,832.3 million by the end of 2024, driven by expected continued inflows from both bilateral and multilateral sources.

It was disclosed that external disbursements reached US$196.8 million in the first half of 2024, a 94.6% increase from the same period in the previous year. This surge is largely due to increased funding from bilateral creditors, which amounted to US$157.9 million, reflecting a 127.5% rise compared to the first half of 2023. Key projects funded include a social protection initiative by Canada, the East Coast Demerara Road Improvement Project Phase 2, and the Regional Hospitals Project, financed by China, along with several projects funded by the India EXIM Bank.

Moreover, domestic PPG stood at US$3,139 million at the end of June reflecting some US$2,226.2 million in treasury bills based on the issuance of new fiscal instruments.

Total PPG debt service payments for the first half of 2024 amounted to US$85.2 million, a 7.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. This decline is primarily due to a 33.3% reduction in domestic debt service payments, from US$42.2 million in the first half of 2023, to US$28.2 million in the first half of 2024.

(Guyana’s debt climbs to US$6B)

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• 2025, Ashni Singh, borrowing, budget, loan

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