Guyana not disqualified from receiving int’l COVID-19 aid - National Task Force

Guyana not disqualified from receiving int’l COVID-19 aid – National Task Force

Apr 13, 2020 News

Former Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, is not aware of any refusal by Guyana’s international partners to grant aid to the country in its effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
So he is of the view that Guyana had not been deemed disqualified from receiving international aid.
He made this and other comments during the most recent press conference of the National COVID-19 Task Force on Saturday.
Nagamootoo said that former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, has reported to the task force that he has approached a number of institutions for aid, and that some of these are in the process of dealing with those requests.
He acknowledged that Government made a request weeks ago to the US-based World Bank for US$5M to fund a national strategy to tackle the virus.
It has been weeks since that institution received that request. It has since rolled out emergency COVID-19 aid to assist at least 39 countries- not Guyana though.
Guyana has not received aid from the Bank, despite being identified among the least prepared countries in the hemisphere to tackle the virus. The former Finance Minister had said that when he last approached the bank, it was still processing the request.
Nagamootoo said on Saturday that he is not aware of any specific refusal to grant assistance, even pointing to recent news that Guyana is set to receive 30,000 masks from China, among other essential equipment to combat the virus.
China has not raised contentions about the credibility of Guyana’s elections results. Guyana’s relationship with that country was never questioned.
It was the US who has said that Guyana could face serious consequences if flawed elections results are not replaced with credible results. History has shown that the US is not shy to lay sanctions on wayward nations.
Notably, the US is the largest shareholder in two of Guyana’s major development partners, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Both of those have been instrumental in the development of Guyana’s petroleum sector, and have been challenged by over 80 global organisations to advocate for free, fair and credible elections in Guyana.
The IMF recently refused to consider Venezuela’s request for aid to tackle the virus, on grounds that the government of the Bolivarian Republic lacked the recognition of the international community. More recently, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that the US plans to block Iran’s requested US$5B emergency loan from the IMF to fight COVID-19.

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