RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/TPR/G/122
1 October 2003
(03-5101)
Trade Policy Review Body Original: English
TRADE POLICY REVIEW
GUYANA
Report by the Government
Pursuant to the Agreement Establishing the Trade Policy Review Mechanism
(Annex 3 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization), the policy statement by the Government of Guyana is attached.
Note: This report is subject to restricted circulation and press embargo until the end of the meeting 
of the Trade Policy Review Body on Guyana.Guyana WT/TPR/G/122
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CONTENTS
Page
I. INTRODUCTION 4
II. OVERVIEW OF TRADE 4III. TRADE POLICY FORMULATION 7IV. GUYANA’S POSITION IN A NEW ROUND OF MULTILATERAL TRADE
NEGOTIATIONS:  CHALLENGES AND OUTLOOK 8WT/TPR/G/122 Trade Policy Review
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I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Government of Guyana welcomes this, its first Trade Policy Review, conducted by the
World Trade Organization.  This Trade Policy Review has already proven to be an extremely useful
tool of policy-inventory and has enabled us to examine our current multilateral commitments more
closely and to carefully assess our compliance with our WTO obligations.  The review process has
occurred at a time when crucial political steps are being taken to improve Guyana’s integration in theglobal economy.  For example, Guyana, as a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), is
presently engaged in three major external trade negotiations: the multilateral WTO Doha
Development Agenda (DDA);  the hemispheric Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), involving
34 countries; and the negotiation of Economic Partnership agreements (EPAs) between the African,
Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) and the European Union (EU).
2. Guyana is an independent, small, developing nation and is the only English speaking country
in South America.  The country is sparsely populated with approximately 750,000 people (most of
which are situated along the coastline) in a land area of 215,000 square kilometres.  Guyana’s
geographic location on the north coast of South America makes it distinct in many ways.  Though
Guyana shares its borders with two main Latin American countries (Brazil and Venezuela), for avariety of reasons including similar colonial histories, the country has historically established closer
ties economically, politically and culturally with its Caribbean partners.  As such, since its
independence from British rule in 1966, Guyana, has been a member of a Caribbean regional
integration movement, the Caribbean Community (CAR ICOM).  It is however geographically distinct
from most other CARICOM Member States, as it is one of three members that are not island states.
3. From independence through the 1980s, Guyana ’s economy was characterized by heavy state
intervention and economic regulation.  After more than a decade of economic decline, Guyanacommenced a process of reform aimed at moving towards a market-oriented economy.  In 1988,
Guyana embarked on an Economic Recovery Programme with the fundamental objectives of
establishing internal and external equilibrium, promoting greater efficiency in resource use and to
attain greater international competitiveness.  Ma jor structural adjustment reforms were undertaken
including the liberalization of the exchange rate an d trade regimes, the removal of price controls and
subsidies, the removal of restrictions on capital  flows and reforms in tax policy and administration.
4. Since 1988, Guyana has also undertaken a series of legal, institutional and policy changes to
continue the process of economic reform including the reform of the financial sector, improvements in
the legal and regulatory framework and reform of the judicial system.  Gains from the economic
reform process have been visible with Guyana experiencing a positive growth rate for much of the1990s.
5. Guyana is also categorized as one of the ‘Highl y Indebted Poor Countries’ (HIPC).  As part of
the HIPC Initiative process, Guyana, in 2001, completed its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
(PRSP).  The PRSP makes it clear that trade poli cy remains a core element in Guyana’s economic
reform programme.
II. OVERVIEW OF TRADE
6. As a result of the small size of the internal market and historical pattern of development,
Guyana is exceptionally dependent on international trade as an engine of economic growth.  Over the
last decade imports have maintained a value of over 90% of the GDP and exports over 80% during the
same period, mainly due to a more market driven approach to economic policy.Guyana WT/TPR/G/122
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7. Guyana is also highly dependent on trade taxes as a source of government revenue.  In 2002,
consumption tax on imports accounted for nearly 30% of budgeted revenue in 2002, while the actual
tariffs imposed on imports accounted for approximately 9% of budgeted revenue.
8. Currently, Guyana’s major export markets are the United States, Canada, the European Union
and CARICOM.  In 2002, these four destinations each accounted for approximately a quarter of the
export market.  Most of the exports to the U.S., Canada and Europe are under preferential tradingarrangements.
9. The Government is also making significant efforts to pursue non-traditional markets including
improved trading relations with its Latin American neighbors.  These trade agreements have been
sought through bilateral trade negotiations as well  as negotiations between CARICOM and third party
States.
10. In terms of commodities exported, Guyana’s economy is largely dependent on the production
and export of a few commodities;  mainly gold, sugar, rice and bauxite.  In the past, the export of
these traditional products has generated the majority of Guyana’s revenue earnings.  In the last few
years, the export of shrimp and timber has also contributed significantly to export revenues.  In 2002,
these six commodities mentioned contributed approximately two-thirds to Guyana’s export earnings.
Key Sectors
11. Agriculture is critical to Guyana’s economy a nd represents approximately 30% of GDP.  The
agricultural sector is dominated by the production of rice and sugar.  Guyana’s sugar and rice sectors,
which are export-oriented, contribute immensely to  Guyana’s socio-economic development.  Sugar
and sugar-based products accounted for 16% of the country’s total GDP in 2002 and the industry was
the largest net earner of foreign exchange in the country and the biggest contributor to public revenue.
Moreover, it employs 25,000 people (or about 10% of Guyana’s labour force).  The Governmentfirmly supports the view that the sugar industry has enormous spill-over effects on the rest of the
economy.
12. The rice industry is the second most important agricultural industry in Guyana, both in terms
of production and exports.  Rice is the largest user of agricultural lands and affects more of the
working population in Guyana than any other industry.  Approximately 18,000 farm families areinvolved in production and the industry supports at least 10% of Guyana’s population, either directly
or indirectly.  In addition the industry contribute s approximately 20% to th e agricultural GDP and
12% of total export earnings.
13. The exports of sugar and rice from Guyana both benefit from preferential trading relations.
For rice, Guyana enjoys preferential treatment in the European Union, arising from the JointDeclaration on Rice, which was signed as part of the Cotonou Agreement for ACP exporters of rice.
Guyana and Suriname are the only exporters of rice in the ACP and share an ACP quota of
125,000 tonnes in the EU market.
14. Guyana may also access an additional 35,000 tonne quota in the EU market via the Overseas
Countries and Territories (OCT) route.  Prior to 1997, Guyana’s access to the EU market via the OCT
route was not limited by quota.  The 35,000 tonne OCT quota of levy-free rice (shared with Suriname)
was introduced in that year as a result of a safeguard action brought upon by the European producers.
More recently, decisions taken by the European Union under their Mid-Term Review of their
Common Agricultural Policy are likely to further erode Guyana’s preferential access for rice through
a reduction in the intervention price for rice.WT/TPR/G/122 Trade Policy Review
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15. Guyana’s sugar exports also enjoy preferential quota access to the European market via the
Sugar Protocol and the Special Preferential Sugar (SPS) Agreement.  Again, the value of these
preferences has already been significantly eroded w ith the introduction of the “Everything But Arms”
(EBA) Initiative.  Whilst duty free access to the Least Developed countries is strongly supported by
Guyana, the Agreement has a serious negative impact on Guyana’s access to the European Union by
reducing the SPS tonnage of about 300,000 metric tonnes which applied prior to the introduction ofEBA (2001/2002) by half by 2005/2006, and furt her reducing it in 2007/2008 to around
100,000 metric tonnes.  It is estimated that the Caribbean sugar industry has already suffered a
US$30 million loss from the initiative.  The Initiative takes away market access from one set of poor
countries to give to another.  No new access has been created or introduced.  After 2008/2009 when
the EBA will be completely free of all quantity tariff restrictions there could be a considerable impacton the sugar regime as a whole and severe implications for export earnings, social, economic,
political, cultural, environmental protection, food security and rural development.  The EBA,
however, is not the only external matter that has threatened the industry in Guyana.  The more recent
challenge by Brazil, Australia and Thailand at the WTO to the EU Sugar Regime clearly also poses
great risks for the economies of Guyana and other ACP sugar supplying states.
16. Agriculture, though crucial to Guyana, is not the only significant source of export revenue.
The mining sector also makes invaluable contributions to the country’s economy, including
significant development and improvement of social infrastructure such as schools and health facilities,
especially in the interior areas.  The main products exported are gold, bauxite and diamonds.  Mining
accounted for some 16% of GDP in 2001.  In terms of total revenue, gold was Guyana’s top export in
both 2001 and 2002.  It is estimated that the mini ng industry directly employs between 15,000 and
20,000 people.
17. The fisheries and forestry sectors are both also gaining increasing importance in Guyana, in
terms of drawing in export revenues.  Fisheries contribute approximately 3% of the country’s GDP
and export earnings from fish and fish products have more than doubled since 1994.  Additionally, the
fishing industry employs some 4,800 people in harvesting and 5,500 people in processing and many
more people benefit indirectly from fishing related occupations (e.g. boat building and boatmaintenance activities).  The forestry sector is also becoming a key export sector in Guyana.  Exports
of timber were the fifth largest contributor to export earnings in 2002 and employs approximately
20,000 people.
18. With such heavy reliance on agricultural commodities for foreign exchange earnings, Guyana
has been tremendously affected, in recent years, by a deterioration in its terms of trade, due to adeclining trend for commodity prices.  The Government of Guyana is taking steps to enhance the
competitiveness of major industries and substantial investment is currently being provided (with the
assistance of the international community) to modernize the sugar, rice and fisheries sectors.
19. Though Guyana is not as heavily dependent on the services sector as its Caribbean partners,
services account for nearly half of GDP and has been growing in value terms over the past five years.Tourism has emerged an important new service activity in terms of foreign exchange earnings
although it is still less significant for Guyana than it is to most other CARICOM countries.
Small Business Development
20. Recently, the Government has also focused on the development of the small business sector
as an important strategy to foster increased economic participation and job creation among women
and youth especially.  A Small Business (Empowerment) Bill, passed by the Parliament recently, is
designed to promote the injection of equity capit al into small and medium-sized enterprises, byGuyana WT/TPR/G/122
Page 7
minimizing the cost of challenging financial charges, which are usually associated with small equity
financing.
III. TRADE POLICY FORMULATION
21. At the national level, the Government of Guyana, over the last few years has devoted an
increasing amount of resources to building and developing Guyana’s trade policy environment.  A
new Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Co-operation, devoted to dealing specifically withtrade policy and the external trade negotiations, was created in June 2001.
22. Given the breadth and diversity of issues that span trade policy, the Ministry has established a
set of bodies to handle the co-ordination of trade policy across Ministries and also aimed at forging
stronger institutional partnerships with the privat e sector and other non-governmental organizations.
Such bodies include the National Advisory Committee on External Negotiations (NACEN), designedto facilitate effective co-ordination and preparati on for Guyana’s participation in the various external
trade negotiations.  The Ministry has also created a National Trade Negotiations Committee (N-TNC)
that is supported by a series of technical working groups.  In addition, the Government has established
a Cabinet Sub-Committee on Trade to provide further guidance on relevant trade matters.  These
bodies provide the institutional machinery to ensure that all relevant ministries have a voice in thedevelopment and pursuit of trade policy objectives.
23. Acknowledging the increasing importance of trade, the Government has also recently adopted
a National Trade Strategy.  This document outlines a strategy that advances the country’s
development objectives in the context of increasing globalization.
Regional Arrangements (CARICOM)
24. As a member of the Caribbean Community, Guyana’s policy decisions on trade are taken in
consideration of the country’s obligations under the Treaty of Chaguaramas that established theCARICOM in 1973.  The main focus of the integration arrangements at the time of establishment was
free trade in goods and the main tools used to pursue this goal was the Common External Tariff
(CET) and Rules of Origin.
25. Since 1973, there has a widening and deepening of the integration movement.  In 1989,
CARICOM Heads of Government agreed to esta blish the CARICOM Single Market and Economy
(CSME).  As a consequence, the Treaty of Chaguaramas was amended in order to provide the
appropriate legal framework to allow for further integration.  The amendments to the Treaty were
undertaken in nine Protocols that cover the following sphere of activities:  the management of the
integration process (Protocol I), the free movement of services and factors of production (Protocol II)
and goods (Protocol IV), industry (Protocol III), agriculture (Protocol (V),  transport (Protocol VI),
disadvantaged sectors, regions and countries as a result of the implementation of the CSME
(Protocol VII), the behaviour of businesses – competition policy, consumer protection and dumping
and subsidies (Protocol VIII), and dispute settlement (Protocol IX).
26. In compliance with a CARICOM Heads of Government decision taken in 1992 for a phased
reduction of tariffs by CARICOM Member States, Guyana currently applies a maximum rate of 40%(CET) on agricultural products and has reduced its CET on manufactured goods to a range of 0-20%.
27. Also, with respect to the free movement of skills and facilitation of travel, Guyana, like the
other Member States, has amended its legislat ion in June 2003 to allow CARICOM university
graduates, sports persons, media workers, artistes and musicians to move and work within the
Caribbean without the requirement of a work permit.WT/TPR/G/122 Trade Policy Review
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28. In 1997, CARICOM established the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) in
order to develop and co-ordinate the region’s positions in external negotiations.  The CRNM provides
political and technical support to Caribbean Member States.  To facilitate political co-ordination
between Member States, the region has also identified specific Ministerial Spokespersons at the level
of the Trade Ministers for the four key negotiating fora in which the region is involved, namely the
WTO (Guyana), FTAA (Jamaica), ACP-EU (Barbados) and Bilaterals (Trinidad and Tobago).
29. Neither the CRNM nor the Government of Guyana have missions in Geneva.  As a stop-gap
measure, the Government of Guyana has accredited the country’s Ambassador in Brussels as the
Geneva representative.  The situation, nevertheless, severely handicaps Guyana’s ability to follow
through on WTO matters (and also has negative impacts on the region given Guyana’s regional
responsibility noted above).
IV. GUYANA’S POSITION IN A NEW ROUND OF MULTILATERAL TRADE
NEGOTIATIONS:  CHALLENGES AND OUTLOOK
30. Guyana is fully committed to the multilateral trading system, recognizing the value of a truly
free, fair, rules-based and predictable system of governance for international trade practices.  For
Guyana, trade policy development has to be considered in the context of the Government’s widerobjectives to create equitable levels of growth and poverty alleviation.  Whilst Guyana is confident
that the multilateral arena could and should be flexible to allow for these critical developmental
objectives to be achieved, there is full recognition that this outcome is by no means automatic.
31. Trade liberalization can clearly pose a threat for populations in all countries, as employment
shifts from unproductive to productive sectors of the economy.  Guyana’s smallness in size, however,
means that Guyana is highly dependent on the trade of a narrow range of primary goods.  Guyana’s
low level of development also means that it lacks necessary welfare systems and infrastructure to copewith heavy economic restructuring.
32. As such, participation in trade negotiations for further trade liberalization poses both
opportunities and threats for Guyana.  The likely erosion of preferences for Guyana’s key export areas
is of particular concern to the Government.  Dest abilizing such industries is not only likely to have
serious economic dislocations but, given the multifunctional role of these industries in Guyanesesociety, there are likely to be grave political and social implications as well.  Though the Government
is striving to improve the competitiveness of the major industries and promote investment into
emerging sectors, the process is increasingly challenging without the necessary levels of capital,
experience and economies of scale.  With regards to continued agricultural negotiations, Guyana is
seeking conditions that are favourable to small, developing economies whose global agricultural tradeis insignificant and whose activities cannot impact on volumes and prices.  Greater flexibility in tariff
reductions is a must in order to address rural development, food security and livelihood concerns.
33. For the multilateral trading system to bring tang ible benefits, there is a need to ensure that
adequate policy space is maintained to enable small economies such as Guyana to face the enormous
adjustment and implementation costs that are required of them.  For this reason, in all internationalnegotiating fora, Guyana has established alliances with other small, developing economies to press for
special and differential treatment.  These provisions should be a meaningful package of decisions with
binding commitments that are not merely a presentation of "best endeavour" provisions in new guises.
Such treatment should include the granting of adequate transitional periods for adjustment and
implementation of complex arrangements.  Special and differential treatment should also provide
governments with the necessary flexibility to assist sensitive industries in preparation for
liberalization as well as providing the Government with the space to manage the difficult revenueGuyana WT/TPR/G/122
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implications.  Small economies must be given the policy space within which to support their
development needs and safeguard their revenue base .
34. In light of the many challenges that lie ahead, there is critical need for technical and
financial assistance  to enable Guyana to negotiate, implement and comply with its multilateral
obligations.  Guyana has, in the past, been a grateful beneficiary of technical assistance from the
WTO and other international organizations in trade.   Experience has shown that in order to build on
initial assistance, there is a need for more focused, country specific capacity building efforts.
Furthermore, assistance should be aimed not only at building capacity for participation in negotiations
but also assistance for long-term implementation issues, which are posing immense challenges for
small, Caribbean states.
35. Previous support from the international community has already greatly supported the country
both in helping the Government to meet its WTO commitments and also in supporting autonomous
efforts to move to a market-oriented economy.  Continued external assistance is considered essential
for the reform process to continue at the pace and coverage that is required by the international
community.
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