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Guyana’s food import bill for 2022 increases by US$30M
…as agriculture production declines
Bank of Guyana in Table 1 shows the production figures recorded for the agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Kaieteur News – Guyana has been positioning itself to become the food basket of the Caribbean, but even with a significant growth rate of 62.3 percent last year the country recorded a decline in production of its traditional agriculture sectors.
The premiere financial institution, Bank of Guyana (BoG) in its 2022 Annual Report revealed that the country’s food import bill last year increased by US$30 million or GY$6 billion.
According to a table used by the BoG, the final food consumption bill in 2022 totaled US$236.9 million, whereas in 2021, the bill was US$206.9 million.
The Bank explained, “In the consumption goods sub-category, imports amounted to US$707.7 million, 8.1 percent or US$53.0 million above the 2021 level. This was due to increases in the sub-categories of food for final consumption, other durable goods, beverages & tobacco and other semi-durable goods by US$30.0 million, US$15.3 million, US$12.6 million and US$5.9 million respectively.”
It also noted that lower imports were recorded for motor cars, clothing and footwear and other non-durable goods by US$5.3 million, US$3.6 million and US$1.9 million respectively.
Food production
In 2022, the production of sugar, fish, shrimp and eggs declined when compared with the previous year; however, increases were recorded in the production of rice and poultry. The Bank also reported an increase in production of other crops.
It was reported that the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on
Table showing the total imports by Guyana between 2020 and 2022 (Source: Bank of Guyana 2022 Annual Report)
Agriculture (IICA) announced that Guyana’s Head-of-State was awarded for his efforts on food security and sustainable development. Ali was the first recipient of the IICA Award for Contribution to Food Security and Sustainable Development.
In a statement to the press, the body said “IICA decided to present this award in recognition of President Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s leadership in agricultural transformation, food security and support for building resilient economies in a sustainable manner in Guyana and the Caribbean.”
It added that the President’s support and commitment to public agendas related to issues such as regional integration, rural connectivity, social inclusion in the countryside and gender equality, all of which are central areas of IICA’s work, were also considered for the presentation of this Award.
While the President has been leading the conversation on food security across the Caribbean and further afield, the agriculture sector in Guyana has been slowly progressing to make the nation self-sufficient as envisioned by the Head-of-State, with the country’s food import bill becoming more expensive.
At the regional level, President Ali has been charting the way in transforming agriculture and has called for deliberate action to bring to life the regional goal of reducing the Caribbean’s US$6 billion food import bill by 25 percent by 2025. These measures have been adopted by CARICOM leaders.
In addition, President Ali has successfully advocated for the creation of the CARICOM Ad Hoc Ministerial Task Force (MTF) on Food Production and Food Security for CARICOM.
The Guyana-Barbados Food Terminal Regional Food Hub is also being developed along with various initiatives to address logistics and transportation.
- bill, food, import, increase, production
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