As Guyana’s economic transformation continues to catapult at an unprecedented rate, the country has recorded a whopping 49.7 per cent increase in its gross domestic product (GDP) during the first six months of this year.
This was revealed by President Dr Irfaan Ali during the commissioning ceremony of a new $1.8 billion Citizens Bank branch at Mandela Avenue, Greater Georgetown, on Friday evening.
The Head of State disclosed that the Finance Ministry has completed the 2024 Mid-Year Report that shows not only an overall GDP growth but also an increase in Guyana’s non-oil economy.
“In the first half of this year, our overall real GDP grew by an estimated 49.7 per cent in 2024… What is impressive is that the non-oil economy continues to grow, and the non-economy grew an estimated 12.6 per cent,” he said
As a result of this half-year performance, President Ali added that the country’s full-year forecast for real GDP growth in 2024 has been revised to 42.3 per cent – an eight per cent increase from initial projections, while the non-oil economy is also now projected to expand by 11.8 per cent.
It was previously reported that Guyana would record a real GDP growth of 34.3 per cent this year, representing the fifth consecutive year in which the Guyanese economy would be growing at more than 20 per cent, and will result in Guyana growing at an annual average of 38.8 per cent over that five-year period.
Meanwhile, the Head of State explained on Friday evening that almost all the economic sectors contributed to this growth despite challenges. This includes the construction sector which grew by an estimated 43.7 per cent.
“The sectors that have faced difficulties earlier in this year because of the drought condition and other circumstances are expected to rebound in the second half of this year,” the president stated.
The Guyanese Leader is expected to do a more detailed analysis of the country’s half-year performance today.
In 2023, Guyana recorded 59.5 per cent real economic growth in the first half of that year – a growth that was also driven by both the oil and gas sector as well as the non-oil economy.
The non-oil economy expanded by 12.3 per cent in the first six months last year. According to the report, the growth trend is expected to continue.
“The overall outlook for 2023 remains positive, despite challenges faced by the non-oil mining industries in the first six months of the year, and drier-than-usual weather conditions anticipated to limit some agricultural output in the other crops subsector in the second half,” the Finance Ministry’s Half Year Report for 2023 stated.
The report further disaggregates the growth by various sectors. For instance, the gold mining and quarrying sector expanded by 89.9 per cent in the first half of the year, driven by increased output. The report explains that these increases outweighed the declines observed in the gold mining and bauxite mining subsectors.
In addition, agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors are estimated to have expanded by 7.6 per cent in the first half of last year. This was driven by growth in all subsectors – namely other crops, rice growing, livestock, fishing, forestry, and sugar.
In the sugar sector, growth was recorded at 30.1 per cent when compared with the first half of 2022. Similarly, the rice growing industry had grown by 3.2 per cent during the first six months of 2023.
