– Finance Minister tells business forum at King’s Hotel
Addressing Guyanese and British business leaders during a business engagement which was convened as part of the State Visit by His Majesty King Charles III today at the Jewelz by King’s Hotel on Waterloo Street, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh highlighted that Guyana’s rapid economic growth has not only changed Guyana but has also changed the country’s relationship with the world, not least our economic, trade, and commercial relationship with the United Kingdom. Minister Singh declared “Guyana is open for business, and we want to see more British companies doing business in Guyana”.
Attending the high-level event were High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Guyana, His Excellency Joseph Fisher, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Latin America and the Caribbean, Amy Barklam, Chief Executive Officer of UK Export Finance, Tim Reid, UK’s Trade and Investment Manager for the Caribbean, Tyrone Rambacchus, Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce, Faizal Khan, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission of Guyana, Gerry Gouveia Jr., President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kathy Smith, visiting members of the British private sector and members of the Guyanese private sector.
Delivering remarks to members of both the UK and Guyanese private sector, the Minister highlighted, “total trade between our two countries reached approximately £6 billion over the last five years, expanding from some £350 million in 2021, to about £1.7 billion last year. Guyana is now, by a considerable distance, the UK’s largest trading partner in the Commonwealth Caribbean, accounting for almost half of the UK’s trade with the region”.
He added further that the UK has also been a steady development partner in recent years, and the clearest measure of that is the UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) growing risk appetite for Guyana.
“In just five years, UKEF has raised its country ceiling for Guyana several times, from £750 million in 2021 to £2.1 billion in 2024, to £3 billion in October 2025 and to £3.5 billion currently, a clear vote of confidence in our economic performance, our prospects, and our creditworthiness. This envelope is accessible to both Government and private sector importers in Guyana and may take the form of either direct lending or guarantee support for borrowing,” Dr. Singh emphasized.
He also acknowledged UKEF’s competitiveness in the world of export credit agencies, including its openness to financing up to 100 percent of a project’s value with a minimum British content requirement of 20 percent.
Dr. Singh recognised UKEF’s support for Guyana and alluded to Guyana’s recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) risk classification upgrade.
“With UKEF’s support, less than two weeks ago, Guyana’s OECD country risk classification was upgraded from Category 5 to Category 4. This was Guyana’s second upgrade in four years. It places Guyana in the same category as Brazil, Colombia, Panama and South Africa. Over the last four years, only two other countries have received two upgrades. In practical terms, this lowers the risk premium on officially supported export credit for Guyanese transactions, and makes British goods and services bought through UKEF more competitive to Guyanese buyers.,” the finance minister explained to the business forum.
He further noted that, more recently, UKEF provided Export Credit Guarantee support for a €61.43 million loan from Santander Bank, to construct a new arrivals terminal at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, adding that when completed, the new and upgraded terminal facilities would further enhance Guyana’s tourism, trade and investment landscape.
The Minister also listed other projects in the country being supported by UKEF including the major upgrade already underway to the equipment fleet of the Guyana Fire Service being undertaken with yet another British company, as well as other projects being supported by other UK funding agencies such as the UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund which has provided financing for the upgrade of the 121 kilometres all-weather highway from Linden to Mabura Hill. This is the first phase of the Linden to Lethem corridor and is one of the most important trade routes in northern South America.
“Incidentally, this road will extend beyond Linden and continue all the way to the Berbice coastline and will terminate with a deep water port and an industrial complex in Berbice using gas from our second pipeline, the buildout of all of which presents obvious opportunities for British business, across the entire spectrum from EPC contractors, consulting engineers, operators, off-takers, and other service providers,” he added.
Minister Singh emphasised that this is only the foundation and outlined many of the various sectors in which British companies can invest in Guyana including oil and gas, the extractive industries, infrastructure, agriculture, services, aviation and tourism.
“I provide these only as examples of the vastness of opportunities that are available for British business in Guyana and in partnership with Guyanese companies and Guyanese nationals. And, UKEF will undoubtedly be an integral part of the journey immediately ahead to ensure that these opportunities are realise. Guyana is open for business, and we want to see more British companies doing business in Guyana with Guyanese companies and Guyanese nationals”, he concluded.