Market Overview

Guyana is located on the northeast Atlantic coast of South America and is bordered by Venezuela, Suriname, and Brazil. It is the only English-speaking country on the continent. Guyana is roughly the size of Idaho with a population of nearly 800,000 people, 70 percent of whom live on the narrow coastal plain. The interior remains sparsely populated and features intact rainforests and savannahs. Guyana is a part of the Single Market and Economy regional free trade zone of the 15-member Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). Guyana has seen rapid economic growth in recent years since the 2015 discovery of significant offshore oil and gas reserves within its Exclusive Economic Zone. Guyana boasts many other natural resources including natural gas, timber, and minerals, such as bauxite and gold. The country has fertile arable land, where it produces crops such as rice and sugar, and produces significant amounts of seafood in the waters off its coast.

The Economic Environment

Guyana’s macroeconomic environment remains stable and presents diverse opportunities for trade and investment. In 2024, Guyana’s economy recorded 19.3 percent growth, and its GDP reached $24.7 billion. Notably, the country’s non-oil economy grew 14.3 percent. Oil output rose to an average of 716,000 barrels per day during 2025 after reaching an average of 616,000 barrels per day in 2024. Guyana’s daily oil output climbed above 900,000 barrels per day in late 2025. Guyana’s economy is projected to grow at more than 10% in 2026.

The Government of Guyana (GoG) has a 2026public budget of $7.2 billion and its key sectors for development are energy, mining, timber, transportation and logistics infrastructure, healthcare, education, housing, light manufacturing, food processing, and information and communication technology. At the end of 2025, total public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) debt stood at $7.7 billion, equivalent to 28.5 percent of GDP, up from 24.3 percent in 2024. Guyana’s inflation was projected to be between 3.1 and 3.6 percent for 2025.

Guyana’s currency has remained stable relative to the U.S. dollar, with the Bank of Guyana’s Transaction Exchange Rate fixed at $208.5. In September 2025, the GoG announced a nine-point foreign exchange control plan as a way to manage an ongoing chronic local shortage of U.S. dollars. The new controls on converting local currency into foreign currency include a requirement for local banks to obtain government verification of foreign commercial invoices and shipping bills of lading for imported goods before foreign currency exchanges can be approved. U.S. companies have reported difficulty and delays in accessing the U.S. dollars necessary to make payments for goods and services procured from the U.S. to repatriate profits, pay royalties abroad and make interest payments on corporate debt issued outside of Guyana. At local “Cambio” foreign currently exchange kiosks as of April 24, 2026, the exchange rate was 222 Guyanese dollars to buy one U.S. dollar and 225 Guyanese dollars to sell one U.S. dollar.

The financial services sector remains limited in Guyana but is seeing growth. There are six local commercial banks and twelve local insurance companies registered with the Bank of Guyana. As of June 30, 2025, domestic credit to the private sector had increased by 18.4 percent year on year to $485.4 billion Guyanese dollars, according to the Bank of Guyana. The country’s political leadership is calling for additional financial institutions to enter the commercial banking market to help support large-scale and long-term project finance and to upgrade and expand its digital payment systems. Guyana’s stock exchange capitalization was $751.8 billion Guyanese dollars as of August 2025, down from $778.6 billion in August 2024. The Guyana Stock Exchange lists 20 registered companies, and trading takes place each Monday.

Guyana’s crude oil exports generated an estimated U.S. $17.8 billion in earnings in 2025, accounting for over 85% of the nation’s total export receipts. Despite a 14.5% drop in average crude prices, export volume increased by 15.8% to just over 260 million barrels. After oil development costs are paid for, fifty percent of Guyana’s oil profits plus a two percent royalty are paid into the NRF each year. In 2025, 75 percent of the oil revenues were used to cover oil development costs that ExxonMobil had incurred in the past and 25 percent was considered to be oil profits. By the end of 2027 ExxonMobil and its partners expect that they will have recovered approximately $40 billion in oil exploration and development costs that they have incurred since 1999. In 2028 and beyond, an increasing share of oil revenues each year will be considered to be oil profits and the value of oil profits that are paid into the NRF future years is expected to increase sharply.

Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF) received U.S. $2.4 billion in petroleum-related revenues during 2025. U.S. $2.463 billion was withdrawn in 2025 to finance national development priorities outlined in Guyana’s 2025 national budget. The NRF contained U.S. $3.25 billion as of December 2025, up from U.S. $3.2 billion in December 2025.

Of the oil profits and royalty payments deposited into the NRF each year, the GoG uses the following formula to determine the amount to transfer into the national budget in the subsequent calendar year: Budget Transfer Amount = 100 percent of first billion in deposits in the previous year + 95 percent of second billion + 90 percent of third billion + 85 percent of fourth billion + 50 percent of fifth billion + 10 percent of deposited amounts above five billion. NRF funds that are transferred to the national budget each year are expected to increase and enable an increase in government procurement of equipment and public investments in large infrastructure projects.

Approximately 87 percent of Guyana’s landmass is covered in forests, which the GoG seeks to leverage by selling carbon credits on the international market and thereby incentivize their preservation. Proceeds from these carbon credit programs have been invested in renewable energy development programs, and other emissions reduction initiatives as part of the government’s broader Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). Guyana has sold carbon credits worth US $751.5 million to date as the world’s first jurisdictional scale carbon credits under the ARTTREES (Architecture for REDD+ Transactions, The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard). In 2024, Guyana’s credits became the first in the world to be certified as eligible for Phase I of the United Nations (UN) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). The GoG continues to advertise the carbon credits for sale and seek to leverage its carbon credit program and expand on blue carbon credits to preserve its forest.

The United States is Guyana’s largest trading partner. Guyana’s largest imports from the United States are iron and steel, aircraft, minerals, automotive parts, automotive vehicles, lumber, aluminum, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Guyana’s major exports are oil, gold, bauxite, rice, timber, and sugar.