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Future generations being robbed of oil money as Govt. to increase withdrawals – Norton
Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton
Kaieteur News – Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton on Friday described the intent of government to increase the withdrawal from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) as a grave risk that endangers future generations.
Norton, the penultimate contributor to the 2024 Budget Debates in the National Assembly said, “What we must also bring to the nation’s attention, is that this chaotic governance, in concert with a willingness to change the NRF rules on a whim, puts the nation’s finances and economy at great risk, while also robbing future generations of the certainty that there will be resources saved to help them face their own challenges and opportunities.”
The Opposition Leader argued that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration has failed to consider the possibility of a prolonged oil price crisis, or a global pandemic such as COVID-19.
Instead, he reasoned that government has accelerated spending on infrastructure; an avenue he believes is aimed at enriching friends of the ruling party.
“Additionally Mr. Speaker, the government refuses to engage in any conversation about the interest payments received by the NRF, which we have pointed out are a valuable source of revenue once a structure that facilitates sustainable spending is developed,” Norton posited.
He went on to note that the attitude of “unsustainable spending” is linked to the Investment Committee of the NRF where the government has not appointed the Opposition’s choice for the Investment Committee despite repeatedly being reminded in that regard.
Norton urged, “The NRF, with its hundreds of billions of Guyana dollars in deposits, cannot continue to drift along in the wind, like a discarded $20 bill. We must see action on this issue immediately.”
During the presentation of Budget 2024, the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh revealed that there will be a revision to the NRF withdrawal rule which, once approved, will result in an upward revision to the NRF withdrawal amount to take effect from this fiscal year.
He said the revised withdrawal rule will retain the important feature that, as production and revenue ramp up further, an increasing share of the inflows into the NRF will be saved relative to the share transferred to the Consolidated Fund to finance national development priorities.
This year’s Budget, themed, “Staying the Course: Building Prosperity for All’ is set at $1.146 trillion.
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