Guyana records 43.4% GDP growth in 2020 despite pandemic – FAO Representative

As the University of Guyana’s School of Research and Graduate Studies (SRGS) continues its first annual research symposium, studies have revealed that while there was a fall in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) globally, Guyana was the only country among the Latin American and Caribbean nations that saw a growth in GDP.

The country saw a 43.4 per cent growth in GDP in 2020 amid the pandemic, as opposed to other Latin American and Caribbean countries which saw declines.
During day two of the research symposium, panellist Dr Gillian Smith, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative for Guyana, revealed that even as the world grapples with the health impacts of COVID-19, there has been an emerging and ever-evolving economic and social crisis.
She was at the time giving a presentation on “Food Production and Food Security Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic”.
“2020 saw a fall overall globally. It was suggested that there was a 9.1 per cent fall globally in GDP, and if you look at all of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, every single country suffered a decrease in their GDP growth projection with the exception of Guyana, which actually had a growth projection of 43.4 per cent,” Dr Smith stated.
She said that according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), prior to the pandemic, in September 2019, the GDP projected for Guyana in 2020 was 85.6 per cent.
“The actual growth was 43.4 per cent. An amazing amount of growth, absolutely, because of the emergence of the oil economy. But certainly, you can see that the impact of COVID on the economy was certainly quite significant,” the FAO Representative noted.
Prior to this presentation, Dr Smith revealed that the global impact on food systems in 2020 saw little to no food shortages globally. However, despite the availability of food, prices increases in key areas somewhat impacted food availability.
“We do know, in fact, that there have been few food shortages and most of us have essentially seen what we think are shortages, but, in fact, global food has been mostly available,” she said.
“FAO food commodity price index has steadily risen… from August 2020 to now, the prices of all the basic commodities that are traded on the world market have continued to increase. In fact, they are up to 30 per cent higher than they were at this time last year – prior to COVID-19.”
To this end, Dr Smith related that transportation and logistics disruptions along the food supply chain within and across countries globally subsequently led to shortages in shipping containers that transport food.
“We continue to see in the world today, shortages in shipping containers that carry food and carry global food trade. They are simply not moving around to be in the right place at the right time,” she noted.
She went on to state that in developed countries and those where agricultural commodities are grown, owing to the issue of mobility caused by the pandemic and the unavoidable shutdowns that had to occur, there was a reduction in the ability of labour to get to places where it is needed.
Additionally, she revealed that from a social perspective, the impacts on the global food system saw the suspension of school meals, restrictions in selling food in public places, restrictions in the functioning of markets, and limited supplies in food commodities as well as rising food prices.
“There was also this global threat of reduced trade among countries, as countries moved to try to ensure that they secured their own food systems,” she pointed out.