After steeply hiking the public debt ceilings in early 2021 to allow for international borrowing of up to $650 billion and domestic borrowing of up to $500 billion, the government is now reporting that Guyana’s total stock of public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) debt grew by 20.6% last year.
The figure was released by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh during his budget presentation on Wednesday. He said that Guyana’s PPG debt amounted to US$3,126.7 million, which amounted to 38.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and that the significant increase was largely due to an increase in domestic public debt.
“Mr Speaker, over the last year, our government has continued its well-established track record of prudent public debt management, despite global and domestic shocks which constrained economic activity, affected government revenue, and necessitated increased government spending to curb the social and economic ramifications. In executing Guyana’s public debt management functions, we have stuck, steadfastly, to the tried and tested strategy of contracting development financing in a manner conducive to both cost minimisation and risk mitigation,” he said.
