Guyana now a high-income country– World Bank

By Mark DaCosta- The World Bank has reclassified Guyana as a high-income country, a huge step up from the previous middle-income status.

The World Bank states that:

“Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita is rapidly increasing on account of oil production and the country is expected to remain one of the fastest growing economies with double digit growth rates in 2023 and 2024. While, historically, Guyana’s GDP per capita was among the lowest in South America, extraordinary economic growth, averaging 31.7 percent over the last two years, brought real GDP per capita to over US$11,052 in 2021, from US$6,478.3 in 2019. Real GDP is estimated to have increased by 57.8 percent in 2022, owing primarily to an expansion of oil production.”

Regardless of the new classification, though, ordinary Guyana continue to complain about struggling to make ends meet amid soaring prices for goods and services, even as incomes for most people remain stagnant.

According to the same World Bank, the poverty rate in Guyana has not changed in many years – even though oil money is flowing into the country. Poverty – the percentage of citizens surviving on fewer than US$5.50 – remains at 48.4 percent, and a staggering 16.43 percent of Guyanese are unemployed. The unemployment rate refers to the share of the economically active population currently without work but in search of employment. Some analysts feel the numbers are higher, particularly when you factor in the many who, whilst looking for a job, have lost or losing hope they will ever be employed under conditions designed to keep them out of gainful employment.