Guyana to launch five-year blueprint for rapid economic expansion
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — The Guyana government says it will soon unveil a five-year comprehensive national economic expansion and infrastructure integration plan for the country.
President Irfaan Ali, speaking at the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber’s Annual Awards Presentation Dinner on Friday night, said the plan projects and programmes are unmatched in scale, ambition, and national impact.
Ali said the plan will also reflect the country’s rapidly accelerating development trajectory, driven by historic investments across the energy sector, infrastructure, logistics, and diversified industries.
“This journey is now getting fired up. In the coming days, I will open with great clarity the economic expansion, infrastructure integration and development projections for our country over the next five years,” he said.
Ali told the gathering that Guyana is entering a phase of unprecedented investment, with Wales and Berbice emerging as the nucleus of a new national energy ecosystem.
He said at Wales, more than US$4 billion will be invested over five years in the gas-to-energy project, power plants, fabrication facilities, industrial zones, marine infrastructure, and logistics services.
In Berbice, a second gas project, a deep-water port, industrial expansion, and the massive gas pipeline, estimated at more than US$2 million will anchor another wave of national development.
President Ali said that combined, these regions will drive close to US$10 billion in new infrastructure and energy-linked investment.
“This is remarkable, if this does not excite us as a people, I don’t know what will,” he told the ceremony, adding that Guyana is projected to end the year producing approximately 930,000 barrels of oil per day, up from 650,000 barrels earlier in the year.
He is anticipating that by 2030, production will reach a conservative 1.3 million barrels per day even as he cautioned that the global energy outlook indicates an oversupply environment between 2025 and 2030, meaning Guyana must continue to build a competitive, efficient, and technologically advanced energy ecosystem.
“This industry is price, cost, technology and regulatory sensitive,” he stated, noting that every risk associated with global commodity markets is magnified in oil and gas.
“That is why disciplined, careful planning is essential,” President Ali said, while pointing out that Guyana’s success will also depend heavily on human capital readiness.
“The greatest complaint in the private sector today is a shortage of human capital,” he lamented while urging workers to embrace upskilling, higher productivity, and a culture of excellence to match the pace of national transformation.
He warned that a lack of workforce maturity or inefficiency can threaten competitiveness and undermine national development and that despite Guyana’s rapid ascent, urged discipline and long-term thinking.
“We cannot afford to be swept away by the tide of optimism. Our future is glorious, but we must temper expectations,” said Ali, affirming the Government’s approach is to convert oil wealth into productive assets such as roads, ports, energy infrastructure, human capital development, and diversified industries.
“The economy is in safe hands, your hands, our hands, the nation’s hands,” he assured.