The IMF predicts that despite the positive sparks generated by Guyana and Suriname’s petroleum endeavors, the region as a whole experienced favorable economic growth. This is coming up to the end of a year in which Guyana’s long-confirmed significant oil resources and unmistakable signs that neighboring Suriname is aggressively knocking on the door of the global petroleum club. The major oil discovery made by Suriname earlier this year saw the nation join Guyana as another potentially internationally significant “kid” on the oil and gas “block,” which is still being hailed in the area as one of the few “good news” stories from the Caribbean’s economic front.
Out of 35 Latin American and Caribbean nations, Barbados ranks 11th best in the chart that lays out the Fund’s projections for economic development in the area this year. Additionally, according to reports, the Fund predicts that the nation’s growth will slow to three percent in 2025. Unsurprisingly, Guyana has the highest anticipated growth rate (43.8%) among 10 Latin American and Caribbean nations.
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Additional nations listed in the growth rate lineup are the Dominican Republic (5.1 percent), Belize (5.4 percent), Aruba (5.5 percent), and Antigua & Barbuda (5.8 percent). Costa Rica (four percent), Nicaragua (four percent), Dominica (4.6 percent), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (4.5 percent), and St. Kitts and Nevis (4.4 percent). Apart from that, the Fund predicts that 2025 will be a year of hemisphere-wide economic decline.
IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas has stated publicly that global economic growth “is projected to hold steady at 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2025,” although he notes that “some low-income and developing economies have seen sizable downside growth revisions, often tied to intensifying conflicts.” This statement coincides with the release of recent data on the economic performance of countries in the region.
