Heightened interest for investment displayed by Diaspora – Head of Diaspora Unit

…challenges Public, Private Sector to enhance service delivery

Guyana is witnessing an upsurge in interest from the Diaspora community across the globe, which has resulted in many new investments.
The Diaspora Unit was reestablished in 2021 with the intention of mobilising and harnessing the skill and interest of the Guyanese Diaspora across the globe for national development priorities.
Head of the Diaspora Unit, Rosalinda Rasul relayed that across several sectors, interest has been growing as the country scales new heights on the developmental front.
Rasul outlined, “What has been happening in our country has generated quite a lot of interest from foreigners and our Diaspora. Whether it is for oil and gas, agriculture, manufacturing…there has been a heightened interest that we have seen over the past years. Whilst Guyana is receiving interest, we are seeing tangible projects.”
Rasul used the US$3 million Timehri Sands Golf Course and Country Club, undertaken earlier this year, as a testament to the Diaspora’s confidence and interest.
However, with these investments, she said, come the onus on public and Private Sector entities to ensure that there was efficient delivery of service.
She urged, “With what is happening in Guyana, it, therefore, means that all stakeholders, that is the Private Sector and Public Sector, need to improve and enhance the way in which we deliver service to Guyanese people, whether it is our locals here or whether it is foreigners overseas. It is one thing to see the infrastructure that we have going up and that daily really helps our daily lives, but what the public also looks forward to is an enhanced and efficient delivery of customer service.”
By virtue of its oil and gas investments, Guyana is leading the Caribbean as the country with the largest amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Guyana’s natural resources sector, in fact, accounted for 99 per cent of FDI inflows for 2022.
This is according to the annual report “Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2023” released by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Guyana’s FDI inflows totalled US$4.389 billion – the highest in the Caribbean. It is a similar result to the record inflows in 2021. All in all, Guyana played a critical role in the overall 55.2 per cent rise in FDI in the Caribbean – a historic rise.
According to the report, the rise in FDI project announcements in Latin America and the Caribbean was mainly a result of a higher number of projects in Guyana, Mexico, Brazil, and Panama. In Guyana’s case and the Caribbean in general, companies from the United States were responsible for a significant chunk of these investments.
The report noted that six investment projects in Guyana were announced in 2022, including an oil exploration project announced by the United States company ExxonMobil for US$10 billion. In giving an idea of the size of these projects with respect to Guyana’s economy, ECLAC pointed out that in 2021 Guyana had a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$6.8 billion and a population of 800,000.
According to ECLAC, the type of projects announced in Guyana in 2022 indicates that the country’s hydrocarbon sector will continue to receive large investments in the coming years. In fact, Guyana is one of six countries that accounted for US$7.2 billion in FDI from global sources. (G12)