Country profile: Guyana

Guyana boasts a remarkably rich ecology, but also has one of South America's poorest economies.

Tropical rainforests - filled with distinctive plants and trees, teeming with exotic birds, insects and mammals - are a big draw for eco-tourists.

But political troubles, ethnic tension and economic mismanagement have left the former British colony with serious economic problems.

Overview

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• Facts
• Leaders
• Media

The only English-speaking country in South America, Guyana became independent in 1966.

ROOTS IN SLAVERY The international community must recognise that there was an African holocaust Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo Guyana calls for reparations

A third of its population is descended from African slaves, imported by the Dutch to work on sugar plantations. Around half are the descendants of indentured Indian agricultural workers brought in by the British after slavery was abolished. Persistent tension between these two groups has fuelled political instability and is reflected in hostility between the two main parties, which are ethnically-based.

Until the 1990s more than 80% of Guyana's industries were state-owned. Mismanagement, falling commodity prices and high fuel costs created serious economic problems and led to a fall in an already-low living standard.

Since the late 1990s the government has divested itself of many industries, but it now faces problems which include environmental threats to the coastal strip and rainforest, poverty and violent crime - the latter fuelled by the drugs trade.

The sugar industry - a key source of foreign exchange and Guyana's main employer - has been hit by the loss of preferential access to EU markets and a cut in European sugar subsidies.

Many Guyanese seek their fortunes outside the country; the exodus of skilled migrants is among the highest in the region.

A long-running dispute with neighbouring Surinam over the ownership of a potentially oil-rich offshore area was settled in 2007 by a UN tribunal which redrew the maritime boundary and gave both countries a share of the basin. The ruling could bring a surge of exploration by major oil companies.

The issue came to a head in 2000 when Surinamese patrol boats evicted a Canadian-owned rig from a concession awarded by Guyana.

The demarcation of the Guyana-Venezuela border is also disputed, with both countries claiming the mineral and timber-rich Essequibo region.

Facts

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• Facts
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• Full name: Co-operative Republic of Guyana
• Population: 738,000 (UN, 2007)
• Capital: Georgetown
• Area: 214,969 sq km (83,000 sq miles)
• Major languages: English, indigenous languages, Creole, Hindi, Urdu
• Major religions: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam
• Life expectancy: 64 years (men), 70 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Guyanese dollar (G$) = 100 cents
• Main exports: Bauxite and alumina, sugar, gold, rice, shrimp, molasses, rum, timber
• GNI per capita: US$1,010 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .gy
• International dialling code: +592

Leaders

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President: Bharrat Jagdeo

Incumbent President Bharrat Jagdeo, from the ruling Indo-Guyanese Progressive People's Party, won a five-year term in the August 2006 general elections, gaining more than 54% of the vote.

Bharrat Jagdeo aims to cut the crime rate

The president promised to fight crime - and gang violence in particular - and to improve government services.

He has said Guyana must reduce its dependence on fossil fuel imports and boost access to information technology.

Mr Jagdeo is a Russian-trained economist and a former finance minister. He worked for local and international financial bodies, including the National Bank of Industry and Commerce and the International Monetary Fund.

He first took office in August 1999 after his predecessor Janet Jagan resigned because of poor health.

Media

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Guyanese newspapers are free to criticise the government, although journalists are apt to exercise self-censorship.

The government operates radio services and a TV channel. Private TV stations freely criticise the government.

The press

• Guyana Chronicle - government-owned daily
• Sunday Chronicle - weekly, published by Guyana Chronicle
• Stabroek News - private daily
• The Catholic Standard - church weekly
• Kaieteur News - private daily
• Mirror - private, published twice a week

Television

• National Communications Network (NCN) TV (Channel 11) - state-owned

Radio

• National Communications Network (NCN) - state-owned, operates Voice of Guyana and Hot FM

News agency

• Government Information Agency (GINA)