Guyana has been named the fastest growing economy in the world by the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

The New York-based stock market, the second largest in the world, made note of Guyana’s projected growth rate of 16.3% during the four-year period 2018-2021 in its report on Thursday.

It said that with a Gross Domestic Product(GDP) size of $3.63 billion (2018 Rank: 160), a growth rate of 4.1% in 2018 and 4.6% in 2019, Guyana’s economy is expected to grow by 33.5% and 22.9% in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

According to the report, with a per-capita income of $5,194, Guyana is a middle-income country and is covered by dense forest. It made mention of here being home to fertile agricultural lands and abundant natural resources. Gold, bauxite, sugar, rice, timber and shrimp are among its leading exports.

Back in 2000, the U.S. Geological Survey identified the Guyana-Suriname Basin as the second highest resource potential among unexplored oil basins in the world.

ExxonMobil (U.S.), Esso (U.S.), Hess, Repsol (Spain), Anadarko (U.S.), Total (France), Tullow Oil (UK), and CGX Energy (Canada) have been a part of exploration and drilling activities over the years.

The report noted ExxonMobil’s 13 discoveries since May 2015 and plans by the American oil giant to begin producing up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day from the Liza Phase 1 development in early 2020.

Guyana is projected to be among the world’s largest per-capita oil producers by 2025, the report pointed out.