The Guyanese Ledger — an independent read, not a government one
Last verified Oct 19, 2026
Guyana's diaspora bond, checked against sources Georgetown doesn't control.
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days since the bond was announced on May 26, 2026 with a promise to launch "within one week." No launch or published terms have turned up in public reporting.
Before you decide whether to lend money to a government you already have reasons to doubt, here's what's independently verifiable — reserves, debt, and where the oil money is actually going — sourced from parties who have no reason to make Guyana look good or bad. Nearly five months past the original promise, no launch or published terms have turned up in public reporting. It makes us wonder. Was this another false promise under the PPP, led by president Irfan Ali and Bharrat Jagdeo?
Bond terms — size, rate, eligibility
Still undisclosed
What's been said
Announced twice — May 26 and again at a July diaspora town hall — as imminent, with details "expected soon." No prospectus, rate, or minimum has been published.
An investor briefing tracking the delay found that six weeks after the announcement, the government still hadn't published size, interest rate, eligibility, or which projects the money would fund. The most recent status report I found is from July; I have found no coverage since of a launch or published terms, and it's now been nearly five months.
The finance ministry says the fund has grown from $3.3B at end-2025 to about $5.5B by end-September 2026, and that its end-2025 balance already exceeded Guyana's total external debt.
The IMF's October 2026 Article IV review puts the fund at about $3.3B at end-2025 and welcomes its rapid accumulation. Bank of Guyana-sourced figures show about $4.89B at end-August 2026; the ministry's $5.5B September figure is its own and not yet independently confirmed. The 2026 withdrawal ($2.37B) is the first year-on-year decline from 2025's $2.46B — which had consumed nearly all of that year's oil revenue. By mid-2026 the fund had taken in roughly $10.5B and paid out about $6.7B. An opposition committee member has argued that citing the balance obscures the withdrawal pace.
The finance minister frames rising debt as controlled fiscal discipline paired with an aggressive development push, not a warning sign.
Finance Minister Ashni Singh, 2026 budget address
Independent check
Public debt has climbed from about $1.8B in 2019 to over $7.7B in 2026 (roughly sixfold), with earlier reporting projecting about $10.3B by year-end. But the IMF's October 2026 Article IV review says Guyana still has one of the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios in the Western Hemisphere, and the finance ministry reports debt falling from 47.4% of GDP in 2020 to 28.6% in 2025, with debt service dropping from 8% to 5% of revenue. Independent commentary keeps pushing back on why a country earning this much still needs to borrow at all.
ExxonMobil's 2025 annual report shows 2.1B barrels of proved-reserve additions from the US and Guyana combined; when asked in March how much was Guyana's, the local Exxon president gave no figure, saying proved reserves only rise once a project is funded. Government estimates put Guyana's oil near 11.6B barrels, while Exxon's own late-September report describes the Stabroek resource base as just under 11B barrels — after one billion barrels produced, a milestone Exxon confirmed in October. A former head of Guyana's environmental agency publicly disputes Exxon's reserves-versus-resources explanation.
None of this means the bond is a scam, or that it will fail. Diaspora bonds have worked elsewhere — Israel has raised money this way since 1951. What research on these instruments consistently finds is that success hinges less on interest rates and more on trust: whether the issuing government is transparent about where the money actually goes.
Guyana's own beverage giant, restructured from Banks DIH Ltd into Banks DIH Holdings in October 2024. Still paying dividends — a $0.70/share interim payout was declared in April 2026 — and it isn't the only listed name: Demerara Tobacco, Guyana Bank for Trade & Industry, and Guyana Stockfeeds also trade and pay dividends.
The exchange trades once a week, on Mondays, across just 13 listed companies — nothing like a continuous, liquid market. Banks DIH's own chairman has publicly accused the exchange of undervaluing its shares and flagged a possible conflict of interest in how pricing works. Buying in requires an account with one of four licensed local brokers.
Suriname's own brewery, Surinaamse Brouwerij, trades on the Suriname Stock Exchange alongside Assuria (insurance), Hakrinbank, VSH Foods, VSH United, and Torarica (hospitality) — a genuine local consumer-economy equivalent to Banks DIH.
Same shape of trade-offs as Guyana: a small market, exposure to the Surinamese dollar, and the need for a local brokerage relationship to actually buy in.
Suriname Stock Exchange, listed-price board
Staatsolie (Suriname's state oil company)
Bond only — no shares exist
The option
Staatsolie is 100% state-owned and has never issued public shares, so there's no equity to buy. It has issued bonds — the Staatsolie Obligatie trades on the Suriname exchange, and a newer $515.8M bond (2025–2033) was issued in March 2025.
This is lending to a government-owned company, not owning a piece of it — the same debt structure as the diaspora bond, just from a different issuer with an actual production and payment track record behind it.
Suriname Stock Exchange, live board, Aug 2026
Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange
Most liquid regional option
The option
The largest exchange in the English-speaking Caribbean, with real-time electronic trading and dividend-paying names across banking (Republic Financial, CIBC Caribbean, First Citizens), energy (National Gas Company), and conglomerates (Massy Holdings). It's also cross-linked by depository with Jamaica and Barbados, so shares can move between those markets.
Meaningfully more liquid and established than Guyana's or Suriname's exchanges, but still a foreign market from a diaspora investor's seat — currency exposure and a local or correspondent brokerage account are still required.
Direct shares in ExxonMobil, Chevron, or CNOOC
Simplest access
The option
ExxonMobil (45%), Chevron (30%) and CNOOC (25%) are the three partners in the Stabroek Block. ExxonMobil and Chevron are ordinary US-listed companies, buyable through a regular brokerage account with no local broker or banking relationship. CNOOC is listed in Hong Kong, so access depends on your broker. Correction: an earlier version of this page listed Hess, which Chevron acquired in July 2025.
This sidesteps every local-trust and liquidity issue above, since it's regulated, liquid, and fully outside Guyanese or Surinamese institutional risk. The trade-off: Guyana is one asset among many for each of these giants, so the exposure to Guyana specifically is real but diluted, not a pure play.
Company 10-K filings, SEC EDGAR
Where these numbers come from
Every figure above traces to a source with its own reporting obligation, separate from anything Georgetown controls:
SEC filings — ExxonMobil is a US public company; misreporting reserves is US securities fraud, not a Guyanese political matter.
Independent financial press — debt and fund-withdrawal figures pulled from outlets covering bond markets and sovereign finance, not government releases.
Local press still holding the line — outlets like Kaieteur News and Guyana Standard have published pieces that directly cross-check official statements.
Where a government claim and an independent figure disagree, that gap is shown — not smoothed over. The alternatives listed above are held to the same rule: only cited from exchange data, company filings, or regulatory sources, no promotional claims taken at face value. This isn't investment advice. It's a starting point for checking the story yourself before you decide.