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Guyana paid US$80M in interest on US$6B debt in 2024
Kaieteur News- The Government of Guyana (GoG) in 2024 spent a total of US$196M to service the country’s ballooning debt, of which US$80M went towards interest.
This is according to a report from Central Bank. According to the document, approximately US$79.9M was paid in interest by the country on its total stock of external and domestic debt. It is important to note that by the end of 2024, the government racked up the country’s total debt to almost US$6B, after closing 2023 with a total public debt of US$4.5B.
Table showing the country’s domestic debt repayment
Meanwhile, in 2024, total principal payments during the period amounted to US$119.7M. The document states, “The total stock of government’s public and publicly guaranteed debt increased by 33% to US$5,994 million and represented 24.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This increase was due to a 37.4% rise in the outstanding stock of domestic bonded debt to US$3,745 million and a 26.1 percent growth in external debt to US$2,239 million.”
It goes on to explain, “Total debt service grew by 10.5% to US$196 million and represented 5.2% of government’s current revenue. Domestic debt service declined by 6.8% or US$5.2 million due primarily to a decline in principal payment during the review period. External debt service rose by 23.6% to US$125 million on account of increased principal repayments to both multilateral and bilateral creditors.”
In 2024, the government got the green light to increase the ceilings on both domestic and external debt. The domestic public debt ceiling has been increased to $1.5 trillion, up from $750 billion from its last revision. Meanwhile, a new external borrowing ceiling of $1.5 trillion has been approved, after its last increase to $900 billion. This move was part of a broader financial strategy to increase the nation’s capacity, in order to finance its $1.146 trillion 2024 budget, including several large-scale infrastructure projects.
Table showing payments made to external creditors
While the Opposition and other stakeholders raised concerns about the GoG’s borrowing and its reliance on oil revenues to repay its debt, the Irfaan Ali-led administration maintains that the country would be able to repay its debt even without revenue flow from the petroleum industry.
In 2023, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, during a press conference, was asked by Kaieteur News whether the country’s current borrowing could be sustained by the non-oil sector when he responded in the affirmative.
“Yes, because as I pointed out now that, and I don’t wanna go back through that again, our debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio and our debt service to revenue ratio are among the lowest in the world today as I speak in spite of all the borrowing,” Jagdeo said.
During the presentation of Budget 2025, Finance Minister, Ashni Singh said that over the last four years, Guyana’s ratio of total PPG debt to GDP dropped by over 20%. The minister said that the debt to GDP ratio was 47.4% at the end of 2020 and by the end of 2024, it had reduced to 24.3%.
Minister Singh said, “this provides an indication of a marked indication in Guyana’s capacity to maintain public debt into the future without the need for fiscal adjustment, and places Guyana in the position of having one of the lowest debts to GDP ratios worldwide…”
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