With oil production anticipated to begin late in 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Guyana’s economy will skyrocket by 86% in 2020. Guyana’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to grow from the current 4 billion to 15 billion by the year 2024 through oil production alone, and ExxonMobil projects that by 2025, Guyana will be producing at least 750,000 barrels of oil per day.
Guyana’s small population puts its citizens at an advantage. At 3,900 barrels per person, Guyana has more than twice the amount of oil reserves “per person” as OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia – which has about 1900 barrels per person. The IMF predicts that the oil sector will account for 40% of Guyana’s economy by 2025.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Winston Jordon, has said that the government has set up a Sovereign Wealth Fund for inter-generational savings, to protect against oil price swings and to fund development. Much of the revenue from oil production is earmarked for infrastructural development such as building bridges and roadways to connect interior regions to the coasts of Guyana.
