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FinObservatory

Chinese overseas lending / GUY

Guyana: debt owed to China

In 2021, Guyana is estimated to have owed China $345m, equal to 4.3% of its GDP, which ranks it 86 of 126 borrowers in the panel by dollars owed. The estimated stock peaked at $345m in 2021.

$345m
Estimated total, 2021
rank 86 of 126
4.3%
Percent of GDP
2021
$265m
Public and publicly guaranteed
2021
$80m
Private non-guaranteed
23.2% of external

The estimated stock, 2000 to 2021

The largest single-year move in the estimated stock is 2021, when it rose by $67m.

Public and publicly guaranteedPrivate non-guaranteedPBoC swap drawings

Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending. Selection: estimated stock owed to China by Guyana, by year and instrument, 2000 to 2021. Zeros are estimated zeros (no known loans outstanding), not missing values. Methodology

Against what Guyana reports owing to all creditors

Guyana reported $1.89bn of total external debt to all creditors in 2021, of which $1.34bn is public and publicly guaranteed. The China estimate is 18.3% of the reported external total and 19.7% of the reported public and guaranteed stock. These are ratios of two different measurements, one estimated and one borrower-reported, and they are not a share of a single consistent total.

Measure, 2021Estimated, owed ChinaReported, all creditorsRatio, %
Total external debt$345m$1.89bn18.3%
Public and publicly guaranteed$265m$1.34bn19.7%

Source: Horn, Reinhart and Trebesch, China’s Overseas Lending (estimated stocks), and World Bank International Debt Statistics, borrower-reported via the Debtor Reporting System (all-creditor stocks). Selection: estimated external and PPG stock owed to China in 2021 against Guyana's reported DT.DOD.DECT.CD and DT.DOD.DPPG.CD for the same year. Drawn swap balances are excluded from the estimated column: they are a central-bank liability the Debtor Reporting System's long-term-debt concepts do not carry. Methodology