Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
President’s Office debunks Nagamootoo’s int’l funding remarks
The President’s Office has refuted claims that international financial institutions are hesitant to provide aid to Guyana to assist in the fight against the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) due to the incomplete electoral process.
Head of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Moses Nagamootoo.
It has been more than 50 days since Guyanese went to the polls to cast their vote for the elections and a legitimate government is yet to be sworn into office.
The statement issued by the President’s Office yesterday stated that “the Ministry of the Presidency has noted reports published in Friday’s (April 24, 2020) daily newspapers which suggest that foreign partners as well as international financial institutions are unwilling to provide Guyana with financial aid to combat the dreaded Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) because the country’s electoral process is incomplete.”
These assertions were made by Chair of the National COVID-19 Task Force, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, at a virtual press conference last week.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo was at the time responding to questions on whether Guyana has received word from any of the international lending institutions, which they requested aid from. Most notably was a US$5M loan from the World Bank to which Guyana has not received any response.
Nagamootoo told the media that, “I believe that also, because of the political situation, in Guyana while we are in transition to a government that emerged after March 2, 2020, that we cannot say for sure whether some of these international, multilateral lending agencies are going to be dealing with Guyana’s applications any time soon.”
He continued, “they probably would want to sit it out and wait until the President is sworn in.”
However, the President’s Office stated that the “suggestion is inaccurate.”
“The Ministry wishes to make it clear that no international financial institution has linked support to the Guyana’s national COVID-19 campaign to the outcome of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections.”
Further, the President’s Office pointed out that Guyana remains engaged with several of its partners and that it was only on Thursday that the United States of America announced that financial aid to the tune of US$475,000 will be provided to help address Guyana’s priority areas in its fight against COVID-19.
“No international financial institution has indicated that financial aid has been made conditional upon the completion of the electoral process,” the statement added.
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