World Bank forecasts Guyana’s 2023 economic growth rate at 34.3%
Aerial view of Georgetown (Photo: Michael Charles FB)
– to be only country in LAC with growth rate in double figures
Just months after it released one of its publications that contained the economic projections of Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries, the World Bank has estimated Guyana’s 2023 projected economic growth rate at over 34 per cent.
According to their semi-annual report for the LAC called “Consolidating the Recovery; Seizing Green Growth Opportunities”, which was released this month, the World Bank projects that Guyana will register a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 34.3 per cent in 2023.
This rate of growth is actually the most in the LAC region and the only one in double figures. The second highest growth rate projected for next year is St Vincent and the Grenadines, at 7.3 per cent.
When it comes to the forecast for 2022, the World Bank in its report projects a growth rate of 47.9 per cent for Guyana. In this case, only Barbados, with a projected growth rate of 11.2 per cent for 2022, crosses over into double figures.
In the World Bank’s “Global Economic Prospects” report from January 2022, it was projected that Guyana will register growth of some 25 per cent for 2023. This was an improvement on the previously predicted 23 per cent.
The World Bank also projected economic growth of 49.7 per cent in 2022. This economic growth projection is the only one within the LAC to cross into double figures, once again highlighting the importance of oil exploration to the economy.
The oil-rich Stabroek Block is 6.6 million acres (26,800 square kilometres). Exxon, through subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), is the operator and holds 45 per cent interest in the Block. Hess Guyana Exploration Ltd holds 30 per cent interest, and CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited, holds the remaining 25 per cent interest.
So far, ExxonMobil’s ongoing offshore exploration in Guyana has discovered a recoverable resource of more than 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels, after spending more US$600 million in direct revenue that went to the Guyana Government from its operations offshore Guyana. The company anticipates up to 10 projects on the Stabroek Block to develop this resource.
It was only in February of this year that the Liza Unity floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel started producing oil in the Liza Phase 2 development in February of this year.
It is anticipated that the Yellowtail production from the One Guyana FPSO vessel will develop an estimated resource of more than 900 million barrels of oil. The $10 billion project, which only recently received governmental and regulatory approvals, will include six drill centres and up to 26 production and 25 injection wells.
In addition to Yellowtail, Exxon already has approval from EPA for three other projects; the Liza 1 and the Liza 2, which are already producing oil and the Payara development. ExxonMobil has said it anticipates at least six projects offshore Guyana will be online by 2027.
The oil company has said that the Liza Phase 2 project will have the capacity to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day. Exxon had also revealed that the Liza Phase 2 development was funded at the cost of some US$6 billion, including a lease capitalisation cost of approximately $1.6 billion, for the Liza Unity FPSO vessel. For the Phase 2 Development, six drill centres were planned, along with approximately 30 wells – 15 productions, nine water injection and six gas injection wells.
The US$9 billion Payara development, the third development, will meanwhile target an estimated resource base of about 600 million oil-equivalent barrels and was at one point considered to be the largest single planned investment in the history of Guyana.