Guyana remains one of the world’s fastest-growing economies while its government debt burden has declined and unemployment has fallen sharply, according to a new report from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The latest Caribbean Economics Quarterly shows that despite increased borrowing to finance roads, schools and other infrastructure projects, the share of government revenue used to service debt has fallen significantly since the start of oil production.
Before oil production began, Guyana spent about seven cents of every dollar collected by the government on debt payments. That figure has since declined to approximately five cents.
“Guyana remains a low-debt case, driven by continued strong resource revenues, making it an outlier within the sample,” the IDB said.
The situation contrasts with several other Caribbean economies, where debt burdens remain elevated.
“By contrast, The Bahamas, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago entered 2025 with debt burdens materially higher than in 2019,” the report said.
Guyana’s labour market has also improved considerably in recent years.
The country’s unemployment rate fell from 14.5% in the third quarter of 2021 to 6.8% during the same period in 2024, according to the IDB.
The decline means that while roughly one in seven working-age Guyanese was unemployed in 2021, that figure had fallen to fewer than one in 14 by 2024.
The improvements come amid rapid economic and population growth fueled largely by the expansion of Guyana’s oil and gas industry.
Guyana’s population has increased from approximately 700,000 a decade ago to about 900,000, while the economy expanded by 19.3% in 2025 after recording growth of 43.8% in 2024.
Although oil remains the primary driver of the economic boom, growth has also accelerated outside the petroleum industry.
Non-oil economic growth reached 15% in 2025, up from 13% the previous year, indicating that the expansion is increasingly extending into other sectors of the economy.
Strong growth is expected to continue over the next several years.
International Monetary Fund projections cited in the report forecast economic growth of 16.2% in 2026, accelerating to 19.7% in 2027 and 22.1% in 2028.
Growth is subsequently projected to moderate to 12.8% in 2029 and 11.5% in 2030 before slowing sharply to 1.1% in 2031 as oil production stabilizes.
Guyana’s transformation has accelerated since commercial oil production began in late 2019, generating substantial government revenues and providing increased resources for public investment.
The latest figures suggest that despite the government’s increased infrastructure spending and borrowing, rapidly rising revenues have allowed the country to maintain a relatively low debt burden while continuing its economic expansion.