Guyana Climbs to Export Credit Category 4

GUYANA · ECONOMY · UNITED STATES

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has moved Guyana’s country risk classification from category 5 to category 4, effective Friday 16 October 2026, according to the OECD’s own published list. Guyana’s Ministry of Finance in Georgetown announced the change on Saturday 17 October.

A lower category lowers the minimum fee that state export credit agencies, including the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM), may charge on loans and guarantees of two years or longer, so US-backed finance for sales into Guyana can get cheaper. The scale runs from 0 (lowest risk) to 7 (highest), it is not a credit rating for bond investors, and no saving figure has been published.

What the OECD List Shows

The OECD publishes its Country Risk Classifications of the Participants to the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, and the edition valid as of 16 October 2026 shows Guyana at 5 before and 4 now. Of the 137 countries and territories on that list that carry a number, 13 now sit in category 4.

Two countries were upgraded in this round: Guyana, and Guinea, which moved from 7 to 6. The same list cuts Cameroon from 6 to 7, so the round was not a one-way move up.

The OECD’s historical table shows Guyana at category 6 from October 2016 and at 5 from October 2022, so this is its second upgrade in recent years, as the ministry says. Category 4 puts it level with Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Paraguay and South Africa.

Mexico, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Trinidad and Tobago sit at 3, one step better than Guyana. Venezuela and Suriname, which border Guyana, remain at 7.

How the Scale Reaches US Exporters

The OECD describes its classifications as a building block of the rules on minimum premium rates for credit risk, “meant to reflect the risk that a country will not be able to repay its external debt.” The countries that apply them, it adds, “neither endorse nor encourage their use for any other purpose.”

EXIM says it has charged no less than the OECD minimum fee on sovereign transactions since 1997 and that its fee levels are consistent with the OECD classifications. The OECD rules apply only to repayment terms of at least two years, so short-term export insurance is outside them.

EXIM lists five inputs to the minimum fee for a country: its fee level, the share of the loan covered, the quality of the product, and the drawdown and repayment periods. That is why a single saving figure is hard to give, and the Rio Times found none published.

What the Government Argues

The ministry says the upgrade signals confidence in Guyana’s fiscal management and will lower the cost of capital goods the state buys through export credit agencies. It adds that lenders weigh the classification when deciding what to charge the government to borrow, but its statement names no lender.

The ministry puts public debt at 28.6% of GDP at the end of 2025, down from 47.4% five years earlier. It says the Natural Resource Fund, the state’s oil savings account, held US$3.3 billion then and about US$5.5 billion at the end of September 2026.

The International Monetary Fund’s board, which concluded its 2026 review of Guyana, as published by the government on 8 October, put the fund at about US$3.3 billion at the end of 2025 and said Guyana keeps one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios in the Western Hemisphere. It also listed oil price swings, overheating and climate shocks as downside risks.

What It Means for You

For US exporters, lenders and contractors selling to Guyana’s government, the lower category lowers the minimum fee that EXIM and its peers can charge on deals of two years or more. Whether EXIM passes that on is its decision, and it has not yet said.

EXIM’s country limitation schedule, effective 30 July 2026, already shows support available for Guyana in both the public and private sectors at every repayment term, with conditions attached. For medium and long-term public deals, one condition is that the Ministry of Finance confirms the transaction is of the highest priority and fits IMF and World Bank limits on non-concessional debt.

One US example is Guyana’s gas-to-energy project near Georgetown, backed by US$527 million in EXIM financing approved on 26 December 2024, when Guyana was still in category 5. Neither the OECD list nor the ministry statement mentions that loan, and an unconfirmed press report of a further contractor claim is covered in our earlier article.

For oil investors and bondholders the classification is a pricing floor for official export credit, not a view on Guyana’s oil contracts or its debt. The OECD says its participants neither endorse nor encourage any other use.

What Is Not Known

The OECD list gives no reasons for the change, and the ministry statement does not say which factors the OECD’s experts weighed. The statement offers no estimate of the saving, and the list shows categories only, not premium rates.

EXIM has announced no change to its own fee level for Guyana, and its news page showed no Guyana item through 15 October 2026. The OECD list is the only OECD document on the change that the Rio Times found, and it is unclear how quickly other export credit agencies will apply the new category.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the OECD country risk classification?

It is a 0 to 7 scale, with 7 the riskiest, that export credit agencies in the OECD’s export credit arrangement use to set minimum premiums on officially supported export credits. The OECD says it is meant to reflect the risk that a country will not be able to repay its external debt.

What changed for Guyana?

The OECD moved Guyana from category 5 to category 4, effective 16 October 2026, according to its list valid from that date. Guyana was at category 6 from October 2016 and at 5 from October 2022.

Does it make US exports to Guyana cheaper?

It lowers the minimum fee floor on government-backed loans and guarantees of two years or more, which makes cheaper EXIM-backed financing possible. EXIM has not said how much it will change its Guyana fees, and short-term export insurance is outside the OECD rules.

Is category 4 a credit rating for Guyana’s bonds?

No, it is an export credit pricing tool, not a rating of Guyana’s bonds. The OECD says its participants neither endorse nor encourage its use for any other purpose.

How does Guyana compare with its neighbours?

Guyana is now level with Brazil at category 4. Venezuela and Suriname both remain at category 7, the highest-risk category.

Sources: OECD, Country Risk Classifications, valid as of 16 October 2026, OECD, historical table of classifications, 1999 to October 2026, OECD, country risk classification page, Ministry of Finance press release via Department of Public Information, 17 October 2026, IMF press release on the 2026 Article IV consultation, as published by the Department of Public Information, 8 October 2026, US Export-Import Bank, long-term exposure fee advice, US Export-Import Bank, Country Limitation Schedule of 30 July 2026, US Export-Import Bank, 26 December 2024, News Room Guyana, 17 October 2026, Guyana Times, 18 October 2026. All retrieved 19 October 2026. The IMF text was read in the government’s reproduction because imf.org could not be reached. No currency conversion was needed: every money figure is in US dollars.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

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