Economic Performance
The Minister reported that Global output in 2020 is estimated to have contracted by 3.5 percent and in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, economic output is estimated to have contracted by 7.4 percent in 2020. By contrast, reflecting Guyana’s first year as an oil producing country, the Minister reported a growth in the economy of 43.5 percent. However, the performance of the non-oil sector of the Guyana economy was similar to that of our regional neighbours, recording a deficit of 7.3 percent.
We summarise here under the sectors discussed by the Minister in his budget presentation.
Sectoral gains and losses announced by the Minister were as follows:
Source: Budget Speech 2021.
Ram & McRae’s Comments:
This is the worst economic performance since 1989 and reflects the twin plague of the pandemic and the political tensions from the no-confidence in December 2018 to the declaration of the elections results in August 2020.
Inflation
Based on an Urban Consumer Price Index, the inflation rate for 2020 was 0.9%, marginally above the range of the negative 0.23% and 0.7%, projected in the September 2020 budget. According to the Minister, higher food prices largely driven by higher prices of meat, fish and eggs, and vegetables and vegetables products were off-set mainly by low energy prices.
Ram & McRae’s Comment:
Inflation figures are always contested by individuals often based on personal experiences and anecdotal evidence. For the average person whose main mode of transportation is the minibus, such lower energy prices did not translate to lower transporta
