While growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is expected to decline from 3.7 per cent in 2022 to 1.5 per cent in 2023, Guyana’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to further grow by 25.2 per cent in 2023.
This was revealed by the World Bank Group’s Flagship Report published in June 2023, titled ‘Global Economic Prospects.’
It is important to note that Guyana is the lone country with projected double-digit growth in 2023.
The country with the second highest GDP growth in the region is Panama with 5.7 per cent in 2023 and 5.8 per cent in 2024, followed by St Vincent and the Grenadines with 5.6 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services, that is, those that are bought by the final user produced in a country in a given period. It counts all of the output generated within the borders of a country.
In the Caribbean, apart from the oil boom in Guyana, the rest of the subregion’s countries are expected to grow at an average rate of 3.3 per cent in 2023, boosted by continued recovery in tourism and buoyant remittances.
Overall, the Caribbean region is set to expand by 5.1 per cent in 2023
“The subregion’s outlook partly reflects the oil boom in Guyana, where GDP is expected to grow by 25.2 per cent this year and 21.2 per cent in 2024 as production at new oil fields continues to ramp up,” the report states.(DPI)
