Then and now
Sadly, as we approach Republic Day 2015, and after about half a century of independence, the classic description of the Guyana colonial economy as very small (even micro by global standards), poor, highly open, and exceptionally dependent on trade in primary commodities remains as broadly accurate today as it was back then. Consider the following enduring economic features. In terms of size, Guyana’s GDP today, at current basic prices, is about US$ 2.6 billion. This constitutes a truly micro market when compared to an estimated global nominal GDP of about US$100 trillion or thousand billion. Its present population is about 0.75 million persons as compared to 7.1 billion worldwide. In terms of level of living, its present per capita GDP is approximately US$3500.This is less than one-half the global average; the second lowest in Caricom; one-quarter or less that of The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua-Barbuda; and only about eight per cent that of the OECD countries. In terms of openness, current trade (exports plus imports) totals US$ 3.2 billion, which is nearly 125 per cent of its GDP! Furthermore, foreign savings also accounted for about two-thirds of total investment in the economy over the years 2012-2013.
With total exports presently valued at about US$1.4 billion, almost this entire amount is currently earned from the export sale of primary commodities, principally, gold, rice, bauxite, sugar, and forest products (mainly logs) plus a miscellany of “other” commodities (including fish, sand and fruits). Today’s profile is similar to what it was five decades ago, except that the relative contributions of commodities to the total would have changed.
Furthermore, while the country’s export earnings are used to finance a wide range of consumption, intermediate, capital equipment and machinery imports, which