Guyana’s oil sector is projected to grow rapidly and will account for around 40% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2024. This is according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s recent country report.
The industry’s contribution to Guyana’s GDP, will support additional fiscal spending annually of 6.5 % of non-oil GDP on average over the medium term, which will help meet critical social and infrastructure needs, the report stated.
With this windfall of revenues, the IMF has recommended wise spending. The Directors encouraged the authorities to use the opportunity presented by oil revenues to undertake structural reforms to support economic diversification, tackle skilled labour shortages, and achieve inclusive and equitable growth.
Further to that, IMF recommended that priority be given to address infrastructure bottlenecks and upgrade the education system. They also recommended putting more efforts into developing climate-resilient infrastructure networks.
Already, the Government of Guyana (GoG) has made commitments to move along the lines of free education from nursery to tertiary. The opposition is also touting free education.
Further, IMF reported also that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the petroleum sector will account for the projected 22.7% rise in Guyana’s current account deficit.
With Guyana moving to first-oil early next year, Guyana’s medium- and long-term outlook will “substantially improve”, the IMF said.
