Have you ever wondered which country boasts the fastest-growing economy worldwide? You might be surprised to learn that the leader in recent years is a small nation that many people have barely heard of.
Guyana in South America is expecting a whopping 42.8 percent annual growth in 2024, up from 33 percent recorded last year. A growth rate that many industrialized countries and the rising economies of the Far East can only dream of.
Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali upgraded his estimates for annual growth as he foresees increased investment from the public and private sectors, Bloomberg reports.
Ali also said non-oil growth was 12.6 percent for the first six months of 2024 despite the huge drop in cane sugar production that fell 60 percent in the first half of the year due to prolonged drought.
Fastest-growing economy led by oil
Guyana is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Venezuela to the west, and Suriname to the east. With a land area of 214,969 km2 (83,000 sq mi), Guyana is the third-smallest sovereign state by area in mainland South America after Uruguay and Suriname, and is the second-least populous sovereign state in South America after Suriname; it is also one of the least densely populated countries on Earth.
The country’s economy grew by 49.7 percent in the first half of 2024, with the oil sector accounting for 67 percent of that growth, Ali said.
Guyana produced about 113.5 million barrels of oil from January to June and the oil sector is projected to grow 56.4 percent this year, he added, according to Bloomberg.
The world’s biggest oil discovery in a generation has made Guyana the world’s fastest-growing country for two years in a row.
The Caribbean nation is projected to pump more oil per capita than Saudi Arabia or Kuwait by 2027 and is on track to overtake Venezuela to become South America’s second-largest oil producer, after Brazil.
ExxonMobil is the majority shareholder in the consortium (which also includes Hess and the China National Offshore Oil Company) developing Guyana’s over 11 billion barrels of offshore oil deposits. Guyana also seeks to monetize its downstream energy sector, particularly gas, in 2024. Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF) is anticipated to exceed $3 billion by the end of 2024.
The US State Department says in its latest report that Guyana, the only English-speaking country on the continent, is poised to dramatically increase its per capita wealth.
