Guyanese economy

Guyana's economy has exhibited moderate growth in recent years, and is largely based on agriculture and the extractive industries. The economy is highly dependent on the export of six basic products - sugar, gold, bauxite, shrimp, timber and rice - which account for almost 60% of the gross domestic product and are highly sensitive to adverse weather conditions and fluctuations in prices. international prices of these products.

The economy made dramatic progress after President Hoyte's economic recovery program in 1989. As a result of this program, Guyana's gross domestic product grew by six percent in 1991 after 15 years of decline. Growth was consistently above 6 percent until 1995, when it dropped to 5.1 percent. The government reported that the economy grew at a rate of 7.9 percent in 1996, 6.2 percent in 1997, and fell 1.3 percent in 1998. The growth rate in 1999 was 3 percent. The unofficial growth rate in 2000 was 0.5 percent.

Developed in conjunction with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the economic recovery program significantly reduced the government's role in the economy, increased foreign investment, allowed the government to cancel interest on debt owed to foreign governments and multinational banks, and caused the sale of 15 of the 41 businesses seized by the government. The telecommunications company telephone company and the capital in timber, rice, and fishing industries were also privatized. International corporations were hired to run the huge sugar company, GUYSUCO, and the largest state-owned bauxite mining company. An American company was allowed to open a bauxite mine, and two Canadian companies were allowed to develop the largest open pit gold mine in South America. However, efforts to privatize the state's two bauxite mining companies, Berbico Mining Company and Linden Mining Company, have not been successful.

Agriculture

In 2018, Guyana produced 1.2 million tons of sugarcane, 964,000 tons of rice, 136,000 tons of coconut, in addition to minor productions of other agricultural products, such as brinjal (47,000 tons), pineapple (34,000 tons), pepper (37,000 tons), banana (23,000 tons), orange (21,000 tons), cassava (20,000 tons), etc.