Govt. approves $350M for cash-strapped Forestry Commission

Aug 25, 2020 News

GFC officials meeting with Minister Vickram Bharrat recently.

The Government of Guyana, through President Irfaan Ali, has approved $350M to support the cash-strapped Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) to pay salaries to staff and utility services.
According to the commission yesterday, the new administration is currently saddled with this burden due to the “mismanagement of the sector under the previous administration.”
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, during a recent engagement with staffers of the Commission, committed to seek the President’s intervention to obtain financial support for the agency. The GFC has been struggling to pay staffers on time and fund other critical operational costs for several months.
“Additionally, it must be noted that workers have not been paid their $25,000 bonus in 2018, which was announced and not honoured by the previous administration. Hence, the current Government is committed to paying this outstanding bonus to all eligible staff before the end of 2020.”
Meanwhile, according to GFC, Minister Bharrat has already commenced discussions with the Commission and other stakeholders within the forest sector to examine strategies to enhance the financial performance and management capabilities of this very important sector.
GFC had blamed reduced revenues from the closures of several forestry concessions and increased expenses from monitoring activities as the reasons for its financial situation.

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