One key indicator of economic growth is the extent to which investors, in particular foreign investors, are prepared and willing to invest in a country. This is true of all economies but more so in developing countries where the capacity to raise investment capital from domestic savings is limited. Guyana is no exception in this regard.

With a relatively small population and market share, it is quite a challenge to raise the required investment capital to accelerate the pace of economic growth.

Gone are the days when the country was saddled with high and suffocated levels of foreign debt due to short-sighted policies and investments in all manner of ill-conceived projects many of which never came to fruition.

One consequence of those financial mismanagement under the PNC regime was a situation where Guyana was ranked among the highest indebted nations in the world on a per capita basis with foreign debt repayments eating up over 90 per cent of government revenues. The country was declared uncredit-worthy by the IMF and investors were unwilling to invest in the country.

All of that has now changed thanks to prudent economic and fiscal management by the PPP/C administration. Guyana has now positioned itself for the first time as the leading foreign-direct investment destination in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a recent United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

According to the ECLAC Report, foreign-direct inflows into the Caribbean in 2021 totalled US$8.9 billion, a 19.4 per cent increase when compared to the previous year.

Significantly, as pointed out in the report, capital inflows in Guyana’s hydrocarbon sector accounted for more than half of the inflows followed by the Dominican Republic which accounted for 35 per cent.

This is indeed encouraging news from a developmental perspective. Of even greater significance is the fact that this investment dynamic is likely to accelerate in the coming years due mainly to our hydrocarbon resources and oil exploration in the Liza field.

ExxonMobil for instance has announced that it planned a US$10 billion increase in its oil investment in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, which will include six drilling centres and 26 production wells.

The importance of investments, both local and foreign for Guyana’s economic growth and development cannot be overemphasised. Apart from enhanced revenue streams it also resulted in employment creation and an overall acceleration of the economy.

The PPP/C administration must be commended for creating a favourable and investor-friendly framework which is now paying handsome investment dividends.

This, when combined with other bilateral and multilateral financial assistance to the country by way of grants, soft-loans and other forms of technical assistance is creating a development vortex never seen before in the country’s history. President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and the PPP/C administration has been extremely proactive in attracting foreign investment.

Close to 500 delegates from 47 countries around the world participated in the recent “Invest in Guyana” virtual conference, which was addressed by President Ali. This is one of several other initiatives taken by the PPP/C administration to encourage investment in Guyana, all aimed at creating a society in which there is prosperity for all.