This Caribbean Nation Has Essentially Moved On Up

By NAN Business Editor

News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. July 15, 2016: One Caribbean nation was recently placed into a new economic classification by the World Bank.

As of July 1, 2016, the South American CARICOM nation of Guyana no longer is classified as a low income economy. Instead, using the World Bank Atlas method, Guyana is now classified as an upper middle-income economy with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of between US$4,036 and $12,475.

The updated GNI per capita estimates are used as input to the World Bank’s operational guidelines that determines lending eligibility.

The new classification comes as ExxonMobil announced another big oil find at its new well offshore Guyana, called Liza-2. It builds on the success of 2015’s Liza-1.

Together, the Lizas’ high-porosity sandstone reservoirs could hold more than 1.4 billion recoverable barrels of high-quality oil. Exxon has 45 percent of the Liza prospect while Hess Corp. has 30 percent and China’s Cnooc-Nexen 25 percent.