To support its ambitious programme of development, government has moved to adjust the external and domestic debt ceilings to avert the dependency on the Consolidated Fund as a means of financing, which was done under the former APNU+AFC administration.
On Thursday, Dr. Ashni Singh, Senior Finance Minister tabled two orders in Parliament proposing that the domestic public debt ceiling be increased to $750 billion, up from $500 billion from its last revision. Meanwhile, a new external borrowing ceiling of $900 billion was proposed, after its last increase to $650 billion.
Given Guyana’s economic outlook, the Finance Ministry in a statement said these revisions to the external and domestic public debt ceilings do not threaten Guyana’s long-term debt sustainability.
Fuelled by a ramping up of oil production and the resurgence of the non-oil economy, Guyana registered real Gross Domestic Product growth of 62.3 percent in 2022, making it the fastest-growing economy in the world. The Finance Ministry said this appreciable growth performance and the country’s robust economic outlook underpin Guyana’s sustainable absorption of the new debt.
