Guyana’s oil exports earned US$11.6B, other sectors only pulled US$1.5B

Jan 16, 2024 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

Kaieteur News – Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh revealed on Monday that export earnings for the oil sector grew by 18 percent to US$11. 6 billion.

During his presentation of the 2024 budget, Minister Singh said this represents an estimated 40.2 percent increase in export volume. With respect to earnings from non-oil exports, Dr. Singh said this amounted to an estimated US$1.5 billion , growing by 8.7 percent, and reflecting growth in commodities such as sugar, rice, and bulk alcohol. He said this also offsets the lower earnings received from the gold and bauxite sectors.

Turning to total import payments, Minister Singh said this expanded by 83.1 percent to an estimated US$6,636 million in 2023. He said this is mainly due to the arrival of the Prosperity floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel which operates at the Payara Project in the ExxonMobil-operated Stabroek Block. Minister Singh said this contributed approximately 26.6 percent to total import costs for 2023.

At the same time, Minister Singh said increases across all major import categories are estimated. Specifically, imports of capital goods rose by an estimated US$2.5 billion over the review period, largely reflecting increased payments for mining machinery. He said this is mostly on account of the Prosperity FPSO, along with transport machinery, which grew by an estimated US$2, billion and US$176 million, respectively.

Similarly, Minister Singh said intermediate goods grew by an estimated US$358.8 million, largely indicating increased imports of parts and accessories and other intermediate goods.

As for consumption goods, he said this expanded by an estimated US$181.9 million with increases across all sub-categories, particularly motor cars and food for final consumption, which grew by an estimated US$83.2 million and US$39.8 million, respectively.

With respect to inflation, Minister Singh said it was estimated at 2 percent at the end of 2023. He said this is significantly lower than the 7.2 percent recorded in 2022. Notably, Minister Singh said food prices in the consumer basket increased by an estimated 3.8 percent at the end of 2023, substantially lower than the 14.1 percent increase at the end of 2022.