Caribbean Food Security & Livelihoods Survey – Guyana Summary Report January 2023

The Guyana Summary Report includes previous rounds of data released in April 2020, June 2020, February 2021, and February 2022 for comparison. Key findings from the survey indicate that:

• The cost-of-living crisis and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war, and other economic factors continue to impact people’s livelihoods.
• Food prices have increased since the onset of the Ukraine conflict; Guyana saw a 9% food inflation in July 2022. Respondents also reported significant increases in the cost of gas and other fuels, transport, and housing.
• Over half of all respondents (54%) are worrying about their inability to meet their food and other essential needs, which is a significant increase since February 2022 when a third of respondents had these worries.
• People are adopting negative coping strategies to make ends meet. More people reported skipping meals or eating less and choosing less preferred foods compared to February 2022. Lowest-income households were most likely to resort to negative coping strategies, with 92% reporting to have depleted savings to meet food needs, 64% reduced spending on other essential non-food needs, and 66% sold productive assets.
• Over half of the respondents (68%) faced disruptions to their livelihoods in the two weeks before the survey, with most of them reporting the inability to afford livelihood inputs as the main cause of disruptions (62%). Negative impacts on income remain widespread, with 51% of respondents reporting that their household experienced some job loss or reduced income in the last year, and an additional 22% had to resort to a secondary income source.
• Differences in impacts are most pronounced when comparing income groups. Households classifying their incomes as below or well below average are more impacted by lack of market access, while food consumption and food stocks have also decreased amongst these groups.