Guyana’s total export earnings grew by 68.7% in 1st half of 2024

– non-oil export earnings grew by 23.4% amid favourable global prices

Helped by favourable global market prices in key commodities, Guyana’s total export earnings, both in the oil and non-oil sectors, grew by over 68 per cent in the first half of 2024, according to the recently released Mid-Year report.
The first half of the year was a good one for oil export earnings, as the report shows that total export earnings from crude oil amounted to US$9.4 billion in the first half of the year. But it was also a good one for non-oil sectors, where the government is increasingly looking to bolster investments to diversify the economy.
“Non-oil export earnings increased in the first half of this year, growing by 23.4 per cent. Within this, earnings from rice and gold expanded by US$24.7 million, and US$12.2 million, respectively, with the latter reflecting favourable price developments,” the report states.
According to the report, total export earnings grew by 68.7 per cent to US$10.2 billion at the end of June 2024. On the other hand, however, total import payments declined over the review period.
The report attributes this to the oil industry, i.e. lower importation of capital goods due to no new Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels coming on stream. The last FPSO to be commissioned was the ‘Prosperity’ FPSO, servicing the Payara development, in November of 2023. Meanwhile ‘One Guyana’ is the next FPSO expected to come on stream.
The start-up of the Prosperity FPSO did, however, help to significantly improve the current account, which exhibited a surplus in the first half of 2024 due in part to the growth in merchandise exports. The current account is part of the Balance of Payments statistical data, which records Guyana’s fiscal transactions, including imports and exports.
“The current account surplus in the first half of this year was supported by growth in merchandise export earnings, which outpaced the growth in payments for goods and services,” the report states.
“The merchandise trade balance registered a surplus of US$6,976.7 million in the first half of the year, compared with the surplus of US$2,340.8 million recorded in the corresponding period of last year. This improvement was largely supported by a significant ramp-up in crude oil production offshore, following the start-up of Guyana’s third FPSO – Prosperity.”
Additionally, the fact that prices for Guyana’s key exported commodities remained mostly favourable during the first half of 2024, despite upheavals on the global stage, also contributed to the growth in export earnings. These upheavals were caused by factors such as heightened geopolitical tensions, trade restrictions, and supply constraints.
Last year, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) projected that Guyana’s export numbers would increase by a whopping 79 per cent between 2020 and 2024, with the total volume of exports heavily influenced by oil production from both current and future FPSOs.
The IDB had published a report in which it detailed Guyana’s macroeconomic statistics. One such statistic was Guyana’s total export volumes from 2020 to 2024, the growth of which averaged just one per cent between 2015 and 2019.
Guyana has also had the distinction of being one of the few countries in the Caribbean Region with a positive trade balance, as the IDB had noted at the time the shifting trade trends in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
Oil production has contributed significantly to the growth of Guyana’s exports. However, export earnings from agriculture have also been on the rise. In the first half of this year alone, the Government’s investments in the agricultural sector, particularly in non-traditional crops, resulted in the country earning over $900 million from exports to regional and international markets.
This represented a 12.7 per cent increase in food export sales when compared to profit made for the same period in 2023. According to statistics provided by the Agriculture Ministry in June, legumes, peanuts, coconut, ground provision, and vegetables were among some of the produce exported so far this year, amounting to 4,156 metric tonnes of food worth $919 million.