Guyana is quickly moving up the rankings of the World Bank’s high-income economies. After joining the high-income group last year, the country jumped four places to 63rd based on 2023 growth.
The ranking is based on the Bank’s calculation of an economy’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. It uses the Atlas method, which reduces the impact of exchange rate fluctuations and inflation differences.
Guyana’s oil-fueled economic boom moved its GNI per capita up 36% from US$14,920 in 2022 to US$20,360 in 2023.
The World Bank assigns the world’s economies to four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high. Since its introduction in 1989, the Bank has noted many countries moving up in their classifications. It aims to reflect a country’s level of development with this income classification.
Guyana is peered in its rankings with economies like Antigua and Barbuda and Curacao. By next year, the country could surpass Barbados and St. Kitts and Nevis, cementing its place as one of the wealthiest nations in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). With a similar increase as published this year, Guyana could end up peering with European nations like Croatia, Latvia, and Greece.
However, despite the World Bank’s assessment, there remains room for improvement of living standards for most Guyanese. Concerns have been mounting about the rising cost of living, which is partly fuelled by the rapidly expanding oil sector. Government has said it continues to take measures to alleviate rising consumer costs and intends to ensure the benefits from massive oil revenues, reach the masses.
ExxonMobil is rapidly adding projects since beginning oil production in December 2019 and is targeting production at 1.3 million barrels per day (b/d) by 2027. Another project, set to lift that number to 1.5 million b/d is in the application stage.
These projects are set to deliver significant revenue to Guyana and play a major role in the country’s economic transformation.
