ECONOMY: GENERAL INFORMATION
Guyana’s economy still suffers from an intrinsic structural weakness. It remains focused on the monoculture of sugar cane and the extraction of bauxite (exported raw), the main objects of processing of local industries; the country is generally poor in infrastructure and depends on foreign countries for most of its industrial products. In the last decades of the twentieth century, however, the government initiated a decisive policy of re-appropriation of national resources in the industrial and commercial sectors, nationalizing the main foreign companies such as the British Demerara Sugar Company, while the entire bauxite sector in 1977 it passed under the control of the Guyamine state body.
According to itypeusa, this has between another allowed to set up a process of diversification of global production programs in light of the real needs of the country, primarily aimed at achieving autonomy at least in the food and clothing sectors; great expectations were also set in the results to be achieved together with other neighboring countries, of recent independence – such as Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica -, within the operational possibilities offered by the CARICOM, of which Guyana is one of the main members (such as the initiative for the abolition of customs tariffs, in which Guyana has participated since 1989 together with the USA, the United Kingdom and other member countries of CARICOM). In the 1980s, the collapse in the prices of raw materials on international markets caused a decline in the country’s economy; this also led to the development of a parallel and informal economy, which aggravated the financial situation of the state. In the early 1990s, structural reforms were initiated, the results of which, however, were thwarted in 1998 by a new crisis caused by a long period of drought, caused by the passage of El Niño in the Pacific Ocean which produced a severe shortage. food, forest fires and livestock deaths. The crisis was exacerbated by the fall in the international price of gold. As a result of these events, the average rate of inflation increased in the years 1998-99, while GDP fell. After a phase of recession, the growth rate turned positive (in 2008 the GDP was 1,130 mln US $, while the GDP per capita of US $ 1,480), however, the inflation and unemployment rates continue to cause concern. In 2005, the IMF canceled Guyana’s external debt.
ECONOMY: COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMERCE
The means of communication are extremely scarce; the country has 7,970 km of roads (of which only 590 km are asphalted), in practice limited to the coastal strip and used almost exclusively in the service of mining, as the only link between the deposits and the ports of embarkation for minerals; likewise, exclusively used for the transport of minerals are the short railway trunks (what remains of the ancient railway, the first in South America to be built in 1848 and which since 1970 no longer carries passengers). In the interior of the country, the use of waterways and air services is fundamental; an international airport operates in Timehri, near Georgetown. The capital is also the largest seaport in Guyana; another important port is that of New Amsterdam. Guyana mainly imports manufactured goods, oil, machinery, means of transport and food products, while three quarters of the export is made up of sugar and bauxite, followed by gold, alumina, molasses, rice, timber, rum, fish products (especially shrimps); the trade balance is passive. Foreign trade takes place in particular with Canada, USA, United Kingdom, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, France, Netherlands and Jamaica for exports and with Trinidad and Tobago, USA, China, Cuba and United Kingdom for imports. The financial sector is underdeveloped. fish products (especially shrimp); the trade balance is passive. Foreign trade takes place in particular with Canada, USA, United Kingdom, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, France, Netherlands and Jamaica for exports and with Trinidad and Tobago, USA, China, Cuba and United Kingdom for imports. The financial sector is underdeveloped. fish products (especially shrimp); the trade balance is passive. Foreign trade takes place in particular with Canada, USA, United Kingdom, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, France, Netherlands and Jamaica for exports and with Trinidad and Tobago, USA, China, Cuba and United Kingdom for imports. The financial sector is underdeveloped.
