AMID concerns that Guyana’s public debt is likely to surge with increased borrowing from its bilateral and international partners, Minister of State Joseph Harmon is assuring Guyanese that the country’s public debt is being well managed by Finance Minister Winston Jordan.

Guyana, just days ago, signed a US$20M loan agreement with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), and another loan agreement with China to the tune of US$36.7M for the broadband expansion project.

“I believe that our public debt is really well managed by our Minister of Finance,” Minister Harmon posited, while noting that Minister Jordan is very prudent in the management of the country’s financial resources. “Usually he will not step out and sign agreements and sign documents that add to our public debt, without some form of action plan in how we are going to deal with it,” he posited.

The minister of state emphasised that before a loan is taken deliberations occur at several tiers before the green light is given.

“The minister himself does not go out on his own and sign these documents, they are the subject of deliberation before the Cabinet, and the minister is given the mandate to proceed to sign any commitment which was made between the Government of Guyana and either a bilateral party or international agency,” Minister Harmon explained.

Last month, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reported that Guyana has the lowest level of public debt in the Caribbean.

According to ECLAC’s economic survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2018, Guyana’s public debt is 46.9 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In the Caribbean, central government public debt remained stable at 68.6 per cent of GDP. Despite having the highest level of liabilities in the Region, Jamaica continues to reduce its public debt. The country had a debt of 103.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2018, followed by Barbados with 89.3 per cent.

Despite the challenges over the years, the mid-year report of 2018 had positive statistics. Among the statistics was a 4.5 per cent growth of the economy at mid-year. ECLAC has projected that the country’s economy will further grow by 3.0 per cent this year. The mid-year report, however, projected a 3.7 per cent growth for this year.

According to the mid-year report, non-sugar growth rate is estimated to have climbed to 5.1 per cent from a revised 2.8 per cent, while preliminary data indicates that this growth, for the first half of 2018, was more broad-based than the previous year with robust performances in agriculture, fishing and forestry.

The significant increase in the construction sector was evidenced by higher building imports by 24.7 per cent, supported by the increased pace of execution of the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP) which rose by 3.9 per cent above the previous half year.