Guyana’s public and publicly guaranteed debt increased by US$830.2 million during the first half of this year to US$8.573 billion, the 2026 Mid-Year Report shows.
At the end of 2025, the debt stock stood at US$7.743 billion.
The increase over the first six months was approximately 10.7%, while the government continues to project that public and publicly guaranteed debt will reach US$10.329 billion by year-end.
If realised, the year-end figure would represent an increase of US$2.586 billion—or 33.4%—in a single year.
External debt stood at US$3.306 billion at the end of June and accounted for 38.6% of the total. Domestic debt comprised the remaining 61.4%.
The government received US$447.5 million in external loan disbursements during the first half, compared with US$130.7 million during the corresponding period last year.
Bilateral disbursements climbed from US$79.5 million to US$263.7 million, while multilateral disbursements increased from US$51.2 million to US$183.9 million.
The Inter-American Development Bank remained Guyana’s largest multilateral creditor, with US$1.285 billion outstanding at the end of June. China Road and Bridge Corporation was listed with US$443 million, while debt to the United States stood at US$240.8 million.
Domestic debt amounted to approximately US$5.264 billion, with treasury bills accounting for US$4.443 billion—or 84.4%—of the domestic portfolio.
The report says 100% of the domestic debt portfolio is subject to interest-rate refixing within one year, largely because of its dependence on short-term treasury bills.
Guyana’s overall debt portfolio had an average time to refixing of three years. The domestic portfolio’s average was slightly less than one year, compared with seven years for external debt.
Total debt-service payments amounted to US$145.7 million during the first half, comprising US$101.5 million on external debt and US$44.2 million on domestic obligations.
The Ministry of Finance maintained that the debt was being contracted within prudent cost and risk limits and pointed to the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio of 28.6% at the end of 2025.
However, critics have cautioned that the ratio is made significantly more favourable by the inclusion of total offshore petroleum production in gross domestic product, even though most of the production belongs to the ExxonMobil-led contractor group.
Writing in Kiskadee Watch last month, former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran noted that public debt stood at US$1.863 billion at the end of 2019 and is projected to reach US$10.3 billion this year. He argued that using non-oil GDP would produce a substantially higher debt ratio.
The International Monetary Fund has assessed Guyana’s risk of debt distress as low, citing rapid economic growth, concessional borrowing and relatively low debt-service costs.
The Mid-Year Report nevertheless identifies exchange-rate and interest-rate exposure as risks requiring close monitoring, particularly as external borrowing and reliance on short-term domestic securities increase.
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