48% poverty rate reflects 2019 figures – Finance Minister

Dr Ashni Sing

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Ashni Singh yesterday said that the 48% poverty rate reflected in the updated World Bank factsheet on Guyana, was arrived at using figures from 2019.

Singh made the statement in a video responding to Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton who, on Tuesday, hammered the government for the poverty rate and called for the utilization of money from the oil industry to tackle the issue.

The World Bank updated its factsheet on Guyana on October 6, 2022. It indicated that the poverty rate stood at 48% but failed to provide a date for the data compiled. Following the reports in the press and Norton’s comments, the World Bank has since further updated its factsheet to reflect a date and announced that Guyana has also been recategorized as upper-middle income.