Over the past two weeks there have been a number of newspaper comments complaining about the size of Guyana’s national debt. One newspaper headlined that Guyana’s debt stood at a “whopping” US$3.6 billion at the end of 2022. Its reporting on the issue commenced with the following: “Amid growing concerns about its excessive borrowing, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh announced.…” the amount of the debt. More recently, one letter writer said that “the national debt is set to balloon, with 40 percent ($458B) of this year’s mindboggling budget covered by borrowings.” Similar statements, in and out of Parliament, were made without reference to Dr. Singh’s Budget Speech in which he said that Guyana enjoys strong debt sustainability and is within “prudent risk parameters.” Dr. Singh announced that the ratio of debt to GDP had declined from 38.9 percent at the end of 2021 to 24.6 percent at the end of 2022. The reason is obvious. Guyana’s GDP is growing rapidly. Referring to the Government’s strategy of contracting development financing and meeting debt service obligations as prudent, Dr. Singh signaled that borrowing to finance development, a normal activity, will continue.
