Guyana’s economy is projected to expand by 23.7% in 2026, continuing its extraordinary oil-driven growth and placing the country far ahead of most economies in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the World Bank.
The projection is contained in the World Bank’s October 2026 Latin America and the Caribbean Economic Update, titled Harnessing the AI Transition. The report shows Guyana recording economic growth of 43.8% in 2024, followed by 19.3% in 2025. Growth is estimated at 23.7% this year before moderating to 18.7% in 2027 and 15.3% in 2028.
Despite the expected slowdown over the next two years, Guyana is projected to continue recording double-digit growth, standing in sharp contrast to the wider Latin America and Caribbean region.
Regional economic growth is expected to reach just 2.2% in 2026, slightly below the 2.4% recorded in 2025. The World Bank said the relatively modest regional performance masks significant differences among countries.
Guyana is one of the major outliers.
In examining the Caribbean, the Bank pointed specifically to the country’s rapidly expanding petroleum sector, noting a growing divide between resource-rich economies and countries more dependent on tourism.
“Guyana’s unprecedented oil-driven expansion continues to pull up the subregional averages,” the World Bank said.
It noted that Guyana’s performance, along with accelerating offshore oil-related investment in Suriname, contrasts sharply with tourism-dependent Caribbean economies where growth has moderated amid weaker external demand, high import and energy costs and climate vulnerabilities.
According to the Bank, the situation represents a “deepening structural divide between resource-abundant commodity exporters and service-reliant economies across the Caribbean.”
The scale of Guyana’s growth is also evident when compared with other economies in the region. For 2026, the World Bank projects growth of 4.7% for the Dominican Republic, 4.5% for El Salvador, 4.7% for Paraguay, 4.2% for Panama and 3.9% for neighbouring Suriname—well below Guyana’s projected 23.7%.
The Bank described the Caribbean as operating along two distinct tracks, with the oil-driven expansions of Guyana and Suriname contrasting with the more tempered post-pandemic recovery of tourism-dependent island economies.
Guyana’s growth trajectory has been exceptional for several consecutive years. World Bank figures show the economy expanded by 33.8% in 2023 and 43.8% in 2024 before growth eased to 19.3% in 2025.
Based on the Bank’s latest projections, another 23.7% expansion this year would extend that period of rapid economic growth, while the forecasts for 2027 and 2028 signal that the pace is expected to gradually moderate as the economy expands from an increasingly larger base.
