Country Strategy

Together, IDB staff and Guyana determine how Guyana’s priorities coincide with the Bank development strategies for the region. The product of that process is the IDB country strategy with Guyana, containing the Bank’s expected program for Guyana for the 2008–2012 period.

Country strategies include an overview of the country’s current economic situation. They draw on analytical work conducted by the Bank and other parties on a wide range of economic and social sectors, such as rural and urban development, health, education, government modernization, transportation, trade, and the environment, among others.

Guyana’s Operational Strategy (2008–2012)

The Bank’s Country Strategy with Guyana 2008–2012 aims to support the Government’s vision for accelerating economic growth through economic diversification and targeted social development. Guyana’s recent history proves that stable, pro-poor economic growth and social spending were important for advancement. Consequently, Guyana’s main challenges to development are that: (i) its macroeconomic fundamentals remain vulnerable to shocks and impair its ability to consolidate and sustain growth, and (ii) although improved, poverty still diminishes the productivity and standard of living for many. Successfully overcoming these challenges is contingent on the completion of institutional and governance reforms underway and continued discipline in GoG’s economic and fiscal management.

Guyana can improve its macroeconomic stability and reduce vulnerability to world shocks by attaining a more competitive position in the global economy. It can achieve these objectives by diversifying its export basket to favor higher-valued products and consolidating governance and institutional reforms underway to enhance its business climate. Guyana’s National Development Strategy (2001–2010) focuses on transformations for competition— actions to accelerate and sustain economic growth through enhanced competitiveness and social development. These plans were expanded in the National Competitiveness Strategy, currently under implementation, and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which is being finalized.

Economic diversification as a means of improving macroeconomic stability is the main focus of this Strategy. Interventions related to this theme are subdivided into two pillars: (i) strategic infrastructure investments and (ii) enhanced competitiveness. In addition to these, the Country Strategy envisions further support for social interventions to promote asset accumulation and make the provision of basic services more effective, with the aim of achieving shared growth. These comprise the final pillar: (iii) social development for growth. The large existing IDB portfolio, approximately twice the value of the projected new IDB financing, is aligned with the above pillars and future programming. Therefore, the existing portfolio is a principal foundation for this new Strategy and future Bank’s interventions.