External debt up 3.8 percent – mid-year report

Guyana’s External Public and Publicly Guaranteed (PPG) debt grew by 3.8 percent, from US$1,571.9 million at the end of 2022 to US$1,631.1 million at end of June 2023, according to a mid-year report published by the Ministry of Finance on Saturday.

This debt increase, according to the report, was mainly due to positive net flows (disbursements less principal repayments) from bilateral creditors such as Exim Bank of China, China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd, and UK Export Finance. At the end of June, multilateral creditors held 67.8 percent of the external PPG debt portfolio, with bilateral creditors holding 30.3 percent. The remaining 1.9 percent was held by private creditors.