Guyana’s total stock of public and publicly guaranteed debt increased by 2.3 percent or US$84.5 million to US$3.7B from the end-December 2022 position, a Central Bank report stated.
Expounding on the foregoing, the financial regulator said the stock of total domestic debt grew by 3.7 percent to US$2.2B from US$2.1B at the end-December 2022 while the stock of external public debt increased by 0.5 percent to US$1.6B. The stock of domestic debt increased mainly on account of growth in the stock of treasury bills at the end of the review period.
Central Bank was keen to note that the increase in the stock of external debt resulted mainly from 1.0 percent or US$9.1 million growth in multilateral debt stock from the end December 2022 position. This was largely due to increased disbursement from the International Development Association (IDA) by 10.6 percent to US$129.9 million from the end December 2022 position.
There was also 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.
This news agency understands that domestic debt service payments increased by 49.8 percent or G$283.5 million to G$852.9 million from G$569.3 million in March 2022. It was further noted that principal payments increased by 12.3 percent or G$30 million, likewise, interest payments increase significantly by 78.0 percent or G$253.5 million. The former was solely as a result of higher principal repayments towards the NIS debenture by G$30 million during the first quarter of 2023.
As for external debt service payments, 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. Debt repayments to the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), 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, debt repayments to the Exim Bank 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. Indicators of liquidity risks remained below the respective thresholds. The external debt service ratio was 1.7 percent while the external debt service to revenue ratio was 6.0 percent.
Central Bank said total public debt is expected to expand to US$4.5BB, due to increases in both domestic and external debt stock, while debt service payments are expected to rise.
