French Guiana

Fleuve Maroni, Guyane — © Didier Gentilhomme / AFD

Located in South America, French Guiana, whose land area is roughly equivalent to that of Portugal, is 96% covered by the Amazon rainforest. The territory, marked by rapid population growth, faces numerous social, health, and economic challenges. To address these, AFD supports local stakeholders in both the public and private sectors throughout the territory – from the coast to remote inland areas.

Context

Located in South America, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and 96% covered by the Amazon rainforest, French Guiana is the largest region of France by land area. It is marked by significant territorial discontinuities. The road network is limited to coastal municipalities, while inland communities are accessible only by air or river, leaving part of the population isolated.

With a population that has doubled in the past 20 years and estimated at 300,000 in 2024, French Guiana has one of the fastest-growing populations in France. The population is notably young (41% are under the age of 20) and unevenly distributed (89% live along the coast and border rivers).

Although French Guiana has experienced strong growth since the 1990s, rapid demographic expansion has offset these economic gains. In 2017, 53% of the population lived below the poverty line, and by 2024, unemployment affects 17% of the working-age population. Access to essential services remains uneven between the coast and the inland plains. Despite its abundant natural resources, rich biodiversity, and strategic position between South America and Europe, the region still faces challenges related to overall attractiveness.

AFD in French Guiana works to address demographic pressure, reduce economic, social, and territorial inequalities, and support the emergence of a new development model. AFD assists local public and private stakeholders using a wide range of tools. For the public sector, this includes loans and Overseas France Funds. For the private sector, AFD provides loans to businesses for medium- to large-scale investment projects, as well as guarantee funds for the fishing and agriculture sectors.

AFD in French Guiana also contributes to broader regional cooperation by supporting projects within the Caribbean and Guiana Shield region. The AFD office in French Guiana reports to the Atlantic Ocean Regional Office, based in Fort-de-France, Martinique.

Our approach

AFD and French Guiana: meeting demographic challenges, supporting economic and social development, and driving the territory’s ecological transition.

The local authorities in French Guiana are diverse, with some facing significant isolation and wide disparities in population density. Local governments and public institutions (such as hospitals, ports, and chambers of commerce) face major challenges, including access to education, water, healthcare, waste management, and mobility.

AFD supports these public stakeholders in implementing investment strategies that meet their needs. In close collaboration with its partners, AFD offers tailored financing solutions and a range of support mechanisms to help them structure their projects.

Support for public stakeholders in French Guiana helps to:

strengthen key sectors by building schools and urban infrastructure, improving spatial planning, expanding access to water and sanitation, and enhancing waste management,
support the implementation of investment programs,
improve the management and organization of local authorities and public institutions through advisory services in finance, human resources, and public procurement,
assist public actors in implementing investments that take into account the expected impacts of climate change.

French Guiana is faced with a lack of infrastructure, equipment and qualified staff, particularly in the health sector. Consequently, there is unequal access to healthcare in the territory. In addition to this situation, rapid population growth puts further pressure on existing services.

AFD supports local actors in the health sector by contributing to financing French Guiana’s main hospital centers. For example, it has partly financed the construction of the West French Guiana Hospital Center in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, the renovation of three Decentralized Prevention and Care Centers (CDPS), and the community therapy center for women suffering from addictions of the association AKATIJ.

AFD also helps improve the provision of care for disabled children and adults by financing associations in the medical-social sector (Apajh, PEP Guyane, Adapei).

AFD provides support to French Guiana’s private sector and associations that is complementary to commercial banks. The aim is to develop job-creating and environmentally-friendly activities. Through its support to ADIE, AFD also facilitates the establishment of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the French Overseas Territories.

In this respect, AFD’s scope of financing now includes social and solidarity economy (SSE) structures, which are essential to French Guiana’s economic fabric. By supporting the South Guiana Business and Entrepreneurs Cooperative (CAE Sud Guyane), it helps develop and formalize local entrepreneurship.

In line with its 100% Paris Agreement objective, AFD also supports the development of renewable energies (hydro, solar and biomass). Five power plants have been financed by AFD since 2016 in this sector where French Guiana has strong potential.

On the Guiana Shield, AFD is established in Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil. It reorganized itself into regional basins in 2018, by integrating the Overseas Departments and foreign countries. The aim is to develop cooperation between its various geographical areas of operation.

To strengthen French Guiana’s links with its neighbors, AFD supports and finances regional cooperation projects to pool know-how between territories on the Guiana Shield. It thereby provides its financial support and expertise beyond French Guiana’s borders, in particular in the sectors of health and environmental protection.

On both sides of the Maroni River, waste management, hospital cooperation and the development of complementary healthcare systems are among the key cooperation activities between French Guiana and Suriname.

In addition, AFD’s support to cross-border initiatives for the protection of Amazonian biodiversity contributes to boosting regional dynamics in a decisive sector for the preservation of the local natural heritage. It is assisted by leading actors, such as the French Guiana Amazonian Park.