Financial Ministry says will come clean on external COVID-19 funding ‘in due course’

Jul 18, 2020 News

By Shivanie Rampersaud

While over the past five months the Guyana Government has made several approaches to the international community for COVID-19 Relief Funding, to date the citizens are still unaware of the status of these requests and the expenditures of the monies received.

Kaieteur News requested an update from the Ministry of Finance on all request proposals, including a list of the institutions approached, an account of the monies received, along with a breakdown of the expenditure, but was unable to receive the information requested. Instead, the Ministry’s Public Relation Officer (PRO), Wanita Huburn responded saying that, “the Ministry of Finance continues to work assiduously with donors.”
In March, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan during an interview with the National Communications Network (NCN) had said “We have already sent a request to the World Bank to access funding under their (the bank) Rapid Response Facility and we know the request is being considered…I got a letter confirming that the request is being processed, so we are hoping that we can get access to the funds.”
During the interview Jordan had also noted that the government was also “examining other options”, listing engagements with Islamic Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). He had added that while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had developed a COVID-19 relief financing mechanism, the government would not reach out to the IMF for funding, unless it was for a grant.
In April, the Department of Public Information (DPI) had reported that Prime Minister Nagamootoo had “related that Finance Minister Winston Jordan had approached a number of institutions, some of which are in the process of ‘dealing with the request for assistance’”. The Prime Minister had also stated that Guyana is pursuing assistance from India through the Indian Grant to Caribbean Countries.
Since then, of the US $5M requested in March from the World Bank’s dedicated COVID-19 Fast Track Facility, only US $1M was approved. It is still unknown whether the full sum granted was received and expended and, if it was, what it was expended on.
On April 2, the first group of projects using the Facility, amounting to US$1.9 billion and assisting 25 countries, was rolled out. As of July 17th the Bank’s listed beneficiaries under this project in Latin America and the Caribbean are Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay. Guyana is not listed. Most of the countries listed have received US $20M each, while Argentina received US $35M emergency loan funding.
Also in April, the United States released GD$100 million (US $475,000) to help address Guyana’s priority areas including laboratory diagnostics and systems strengthening and supplies, surveillance, infection prevention & control, and emergency operation centres. The funds were part of a US$3,000,000 allocation to support the current COVID-19 Response in the Region through the Regional Caribbean Office of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Further, the Indian Grant to Caribbean Countries is the first such initiative to be undertaken by the Indian Government. According to an article published on September 26, 2019 in The Economic Times, “Modi announced a $ 14 million grant for community development projects in the CARICOM and another 150 million Line of Credit for solar, renewable energy and climate- change related projects.” This announcement was made on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Present at the meeting was Heads of Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Vice President of Suriname, and Foreign Ministers of Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Haiti and Guyana. It is unclear whether any of these countries have since accessed these funds.
To date the IMF has provided a total of US $50,907 million to Guyana’s Caribbean partners including Dominica, Barbados, Chile, Columbia and Jamaica under its Emergency Funding Initiative. While Jordan had said in March that he would not approach the IMF, it is unclear whether this position has changed.
To date, no comprehensive information on external financial support for COVID-19 has been released by the government of Guyana.
Ms. Huburn in her response to Kaieteur News’s request also stated that “we will provide a progress report in due course.”

Latest News

Financial Ministry says will come clean on external COVID-19 funding ‘in due course’

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 13th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Madray, Klass impress on Day Two

Sajid, Noman, Abrar share all 20 wickets as...

India skittle WI, SL bundle out Malaysia

The shortest Test match to produce a result in...

Windies crumble to spin as Pakistan seize control...

Ashby, Inverary, Lewis among winners on Friday

Features/Columnists

Mental illness is real and a serious public health concern

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Budget 2025: first take

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Financial Ministry says will come clean on external COVID-19 funding ‘in due course’

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 13th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]