Guyana: Key Industries

Guyana's economy has been transformed by the discovery and development of major offshore oil reserves in the Stabroek Block, first announced in 2015. Oil and gas production, led by an international consortium, has become the dominant driver of economic activity, fueling some of the fastest GDP growth rates in the world in recent years and reshaping the country's profile from an agriculture- and mining-based economy toward a hydrocarbon-driven one.

Traditional industries remain important for employment and export diversification. Sugar was historically the leading commodity, though the sector has contracted amid global competition; rice remains a significant export crop, and gold and bauxite mining, carried out by both large foreign-owned operators and smaller domestic miners, continue to be major contributors to non-oil GDP. Guyana also holds some of the largest remaining stretches of unspoiled rainforest in South America, though its forestry industry remains underdeveloped due to limited road and power infrastructure.

As of 2026, oil output continues to expand rapidly, with production having risen from roughly 100,000 barrels per day in its first full year of production to several hundred thousand barrels per day, and further increases are expected as additional offshore projects come online. This oil-driven expansion has pushed Guyana's per-capita GDP, measured on a purchasing-power basis, among the highest in the hemisphere, even as most of the population continues to work in agriculture, mining, and services rather than the capital-intensive oil sector itself.