Small Guyana faces big hit from rising food prices, says president

Guyana, a poor nation of 800,000 people which recently started producing oil, would have to increase food production, Ali said, adding that this would require outside investment. "We need capital for the technology," he said.

Guyana's President Irfaan Ali said on Wednesday rising food prices would hit the global economy and have a magnified impact on his small South American nation, which he said would seek to attract investment to boost domestic output. Higher food prices have driven up global inflation, partly fuelled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, both major exporters of wheat and other food products.

"The impact of that on the global economy will be tremendous and as a small developing state that impact is magnified for us," Ali told a conference in the United Arab Emirates. Guyana, a poor nation of 800,000 people which recently started producing oil, would have to increase food production, Ali said, adding that this would require outside investment.

"We need capital for the technology," he said. Guyana, which has relied on agriculture and mining in the past, plans to increase oil production to 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) over the next three to five years, Ali said.

The president said Guyana would honor its agreement with the Exxon Mobil-led consortium which started oil production in Guyana in 2019 but wanted better terms from future deals. "One of the important things now is to have more investment in exploration," Ali said, adding that the planned increase in production would help the country invest in other areas.