Latest update March 31st, 2025 6:44 AM
Latest News
- ExxonM and CNOOC sticking to 11B barrels figure in Stabroek Block, but Hess says estimate higher
- Deadly Israeli strikes mar Gaza Eid celebrations
- Govt. to roll out automated speed ticketing system next week
- Bandits push down guard, rob Chinese nationals of over $1M in cash, other items
- Omai increases gold pit drilling
Govt ‘digging a hole to full a hole’ saddling citizens with greater public debt – Juretha Fernandes
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana under the leadership of the People Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) is in the habit of what Guyanese refer to as ‘digging a hole to full a hole,’ when it comes to servicing the country’s internal and external debt.
Shadow Minister of Finance and Opposition Member, Juretha Fernandes
Shadow Minister of Finance and Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Juretha Fernandes made this point during her presentation in the 2023 Budget Debate. She noted that Government loves to borrow loans to pay for outstanding loans, which only increases the public debt that is then saddled on the backs of citizens.
The Opposition MP noted that Minister within the Office of the President with the Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh said the existing external debt at US$1,571.9 million and internal debt at US$2,080.6 million, a total of US$3,652.5 million. This debt, she said increased the liability of each Guyanese household significantly, as the increase of debt is estimated to now cost each household at least $531,000.
To compound the domestic debt issue, Fernandes noted that while Dr. Singh was quoted saying that the, “‘The growth of domestic debt service payments was, in turn, largely due to the commencement of principal repayments on debentures issued in 2021 to securitise an inherited overdraft at the Central Bank;’”
According to Fernandes, this statement was wholly misleading.
She said, “Mr. Speaker it was the very Ashni Singh that stood in this House and said that as of August 2nd 2020 when the PPP took office the overdraft was $78.7 billion and after four month the PPP racked up the overdraft to $116.6 billion, $37.9 billion in a few months. But that wasn’t all Sir, because six months after that in June of 2021, the Government sold over $200 billion in debentures to clear the overdraft.” Fernandes claimed that the PPPC racked up, in less than a year more overdraft than they reached after the APNU+AFC five years in office. She therefore told the House for Dr. Singh to deceive the Guyanese people that the debentures were sold to clear an inherited overdraft from the A Partnership For National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC’s) term in Office is a clear attempt to willfully mislead or spread disinformation to the people of Guyana.
During his budget 2023 presentation, Dr. Singh had announced that the country’s total public debt stood at US$3,654.9M an increase by 16.9 percent from last year.
Almost all of its recently announced public infrastructural projects Government has been borrowing to finance them despite earning over US$1B in the oil account for last year.
Delivering his budget presentation Dr. Singh sought to allay the fears of Guyanese by claiming that Government has “maintained its long-standing practice of prudent debt management.”
To this end, he announced that total public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) debt amounted to US$3,654.9 million at end-2022, up 16.9 percent from end-2021, on account of growth in external and domestic debt. “Notwithstanding, the ratio of total PPG debt-to-GDP declined substantially over the past year, from 38.9 percent at end-2021 to 24.6 percent at end-2022. This outcome is testament to our judicious contracting of development financing, at a level well within Guyana’s debt carrying capacity,” Singh told the National Assembly.
He added that at the end of 2022, Guyana’s external debt totalled US$1,571.9 million, representing a 12.9 percent increase compared to end-2021, mainly as a result of positive net flows from both bilateral and multilateral creditors.
Meanwhile, he claimed that domestic debt amounted to US$2,080.6 million at end-2022, up from US$1,731.5 million at end-2021. This increase is attributed to Government’s issuance of new fiscal treasury bills. Total public debt service rose from US$121.9 million in 2021 to US$150.2 million in 2022. This increase was driven primarily by domestic debt service payments, which totalled US$65 million in 2022, up from US$41.2 million in the preceding year. The growth of domestic debt service payments was, in turn, largely due to the commencement of principal repayments on debentures issued in 2021 to securitise an inherited overdraft at the Central Bank. When compared with the previous year, external debt service payments increased by 5.5 percent to US$85.2 million in 2022, mainly on account of higher principal and interest payments to multilateral creditors.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Choosing between bad and worse
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- I’ve always had an aversion to elections, which I suppose is natural for someone who... more
The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- Recent media stories have suggested that King Charles III could “invite” the United... more
Weekend Cartoon
