In over four decades, Guyana borrowed US$291M from CDB

Sep 17, 2018 News

– still to repay US147M, IMF notes

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) remains one of Guyana’s most important development partners, stated the International Development Fund (IMF) in its latest Staff Report on Guyana.
IMF noted that CDB’s developmental partnership with Guyana accounts for over 20 percent of the country’s multilateral debt stock.
IMF reported that total loans approved for Guyana from CDB’s inception (January 26, 1970) to December 31, 2017 amounted to US$291.9 million, representing 6.2 percent of CDB’s total approved lending, and making Guyana CDB’s sixth largest borrower out of its 19 borrowing member countries.
IMF was keen to note that Guyana is also one of the largest recipients of grant funding from CDB; second to only after Haiti. The cumulative grant approvals amounting to Guyana from CDB stands at US$53.2 million as of December 31, 2017.
However, the IMF noted that of the total amount of loans approved, outstanding balances totaled US$147.8 million as of December 31, 2017. As of that date, undisbursed balances were $25.11 million. In addition, IMF noted that the US$11.7 million Skills Development and Employability Project, which was approved in December 2016, remain pending.
IMF reported, “At the end of 2016, CDB’s Board approved a new CSP for 2017-2021. This had a notional resource envelope of US$194 million, including Guyana’s grant allocation of about $65 million from the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund(UK – CIF).1 The resource envelope reflects the emphasis of the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana (GOGY) that each intervention being financed with external resources must include a grant element of at least 35 percent.”
Further, the Fund said that technical work is being undertaken to inform the UK-CIF projects, which will include an element of blending with CDB’s Ordinary Capital Resources. These are expected to be approved in late 2018. “The GOGY has also signaled its intention to utilize its allocation of Special Fund Resources to fund further infrastructure works. CDB is also grant-funding some technical assistance in development planning; strengthening the national mechanism for climate change; and estimating the likely demand for a development bank.”

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