Major international banks and financial institutions are seeking information about investment opportunities in Guyana, Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has disclosed, following engagements during the recent International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings.
Speaking on the Starting Point podcast on Saturday, Singh said discussions with global financiers formed an important part of his engagements as interest in the country’s expanding economy grows.
“So several large financial institutions are now interested in finding out what is taking place in Guyana, what opportunities exist in Guyana, and how they might participate in those opportunities,” he said.
According to Singh, those discussions involved answering questions about Guyana’s economic performance, updating institutions on developments locally and outlining the country’s prospects for investment.
He said he had been engaging “some of the biggest banks around the world and some of the biggest financial institutions around the world”.
His comments provide an update on the government’s efforts to attract international financing to support the country’s growth, including business activity outside the oil sector.
In April, Singh outlined the government’s push to bring regional and international banks, alongside the private-sector arms of development institutions, into financing projects in Guyana.
At that time, he said IDB Invest had approved more than US$260 million for projects locally since August 2020, compared with cumulative commitments of US$6 million before that period.
On Saturday, Singh argued that growing international confidence could create opportunities for Guyanese businesses and workers.
“So when Guyana is perceived as being of lower risk, and more people are prepared to invest in Guyana, and more people are prepared to provide financing to Guyana, and more people are prepared to do business in Guyana, that creates business and work opportunities for the Guyanese people,” he said.
The discussions come against the backdrop of Guyana’s recent improvement in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s country risk classification. The country moved from Category Five to Category Four, effective October 16, following an earlier upgrade from Category Six to Five in 2022.
Singh said the classification matters because export credit agencies use country risk assessments when determining financing costs. He expects the improvement to favourably affect borrowing costs, particularly where lenders rely on the OECD framework.
Alongside meetings with commercial financial institutions, Singh said he held discussions with the IMF, World Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank and Caribbean Development Bank.
Those engagements also covered human capital development and the financing challenges facing small, climate-vulnerable countries.
However, Singh acknowledged that Guyana’s rapid expansion brings domestic pressures, particularly the demand for skilled workers.
He pointed to construction and heavy-equipment operations as areas where employers are absorbing trained workers as quickly as they become available.
“If you take, for example, the construction sector, as fast as we are able to produce people with the relevant skills and certification, the market is grabbing them,” he said.
Singh said continued training would be necessary to help Guyanese take up the opportunities being generated by investment and economic growth.
