Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Ashni Singh, said Guyana’s economic transformation is the result of decades of policy reform, institutional strengthening and strategic investment.
During a fireside chat at the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo on Tuesday, Dr Singh underscored the scale of the country’s progress, noting that Guyana has accumulated savings in its sovereign wealth fund sufficient to cover the country’s total external debt, while simultaneously expanding infrastructure and social services.
“We’ve been able to accumulate, in the sovereign wealth fund, enough savings now to pay off the total external debt of the country, all within the space of just about five years,” he said.
The finance minister highlighted the rapid growth of the oil and gas sector, pointing to the pace at which production has increased since first oil in 2019.
“We moved from one FPSO producing about 120,000 barrels of oil per day in December 2019 to four FPSOs producing about 900,000 barrels per day today,” Minister Singh explained. “With the deployment of the next FPSO, we will exceed one million barrels of oil per day, and by the end of the decade, we expect production capacity of about 1.7 million barrels per day. By any standard, these are extraordinary numbers.”
He emphasised that the scale and speed of development are unlike anything previously seen globally.
Minister Singh said Guyana’s ability to attract major investors such as ExxonMobil was not accidental but the result of long-term reforms following the restoration of democracy in 1992.
“At the turn of the 1990s, Guyana was essentially bankrupt. We were spending more than 100 per cent of government revenue on servicing debt, and the stock of debt was more than 600 per cent of GDP,” he said. “It took decades of effort to rebuild institutions, liberalise the economy and establish Guyana as a credible destination for investment.”
He noted that strong partnerships with private investors remain essential to financing development and sustaining growth.
Minister Singh said the government’s approach to managing oil revenues seeks to balance saving for future generations with investing in infrastructure that drives long-term growth.
Through the Natural Resource Fund, strict governance and transparency mechanisms ensure that revenues are managed responsibly while supporting national development priorities.
“Saving for future generations will manifest itself not only in monetary savings, but also in investment in public infrastructure that will generate returns over the long term,” he said.
A major priority, the finance minister explained, is overcoming Guyana’s longstanding electricity constraints through the Gas-to-Energy project and related investments.
“For generations, Guyana has struggled to generate adequate electricity reliably and at a competitive price,” he said. “That has limited our ability to process our resources and develop manufacturing.”
The Wales gas-to-energy project, he noted, will double generating capacity and reduce electricity costs by about half, creating opportunities for manufacturing, agro-processing and other value-added industries.
“With cheaper and more reliable electricity, we anticipate the emergence of an industrial and manufacturing sector that has long been constrained by high energy costs,” Minister Singh added.
Looking ahead, the senior minister said the pace of change underway in Guyana is unprecedented, pointing to new highways, hospitals, schools, ports and airports being built across the country.
“We’re witnessing a transformation at a speed that we have never seen anywhere else,” he said. “If anyone feels dizzy from the last five years, the next five years will be even more extraordinary.”