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Govt. boasts of not spending oil proceeds contained in NRF
…Opposition MP says PPP/C borrowing will put dent in savings
Kaieteur News – An announcement in the National Assembly on Monday by Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, of the accumulation and management of US$436 million in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) stemming from the completion of seven million-barrel oil lifts, royalties and interest, was met with objections from Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Shurwayne Holder.
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat.
Holder objected to Bharrat’s presentation to the National Assembly about the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration management of the country’s NRF.
Bharrat said that the fund is well managed by the government without spending a cent from the sum. However, in a subsequent presentation, Holder, an A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) MP, called out the Government for exuberant borrowing saying, it will eventually put a dent in Guyana’s NRF.
“Since taking office just a year ago, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration has not spent a single dime or a single dollar from the Natural Resource Fund. We have not embarked on a squandermania of the oil revenue. We have not misused the oil revenue. We still have every single dollar from the direct proceeds of the oil and gas sector in the Natural Resource Fund, which will be spent to ensure that every single Guyanese benefit,” Minister Bharrat said.
However, Holder noted that while the PPP/C seeks to take credit for not spending from the NRF, it was the former administration that put restrictions to doing so without transparency.
“The reality is that they can’t spend the money from the oil revenue without the involvement of the Opposition. That is the reality, Mr. Speaker. It was the coalition that passed legislation to protect our national patrimony as it relates to oil and gas, so they can’t touch it Mr. Speaker. They can’t touch it without our involvement, without Parliamentary oversight and civil society and that’s the problem that they have,” he said.
Opposition MP, Shurwayne Holder.
Holder noted too that while the Government may not have spent from the NRF directly, it has borrowed in such large amounts that the same will have to be repaid in the future, likely from the oil revenues.
“This Government is a very clever one…they have spent the money without touching …Every lending agency overseas is ready to lend whatever amount of money to Guyana since we have oil and so they’re accessing these funds and spending it,” Holder said.
According to the Opposition MP, the government is taking the backdoor approach to spending the sums. “The loans borrowed now will likely attract huge interests in the future and where are they going to get the money to pay for that? It will eventually come from the NRF.”
Meanwhile, Bharrat retorted by saying “We will ensure that there is Parliamentary oversight of the sector, we will ensure that there is proper transparency and accountability in the sector and this is something that we intend to fulfill, hence, not spending any monies from the Natural Resource Fund.”
The parliamentary debate followed an announcement by President Irfaan Ali that Guyana will not start spending its oil revenues on priority areas until the Petroleum Commission is established and the Natural Resource Fund legislation is amended,
“We have a number of things that we have to do in terms of setting up the Petroleum Commission. We have to also look at the legislation for the Natural Resources Fund. Those are things that we have to do but at this moment, we are not looking at the oil revenue to meet government expenditure,” Ali told the press in April.
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