Govt. withdraws $51.9B from oil fund

Mar 15, 2024 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

Kaieteur News – The government on Thursday made its first withdrawal from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) for the year 2024, totalling US$250 million.

Pursuant to the NRF Act, as amended by the Fiscal Enactments (Amendment) Act 2024, Parliamentary approval was granted for US$1,586,150,331 (equivalent to G$329,885,563,088) to be withdrawn from the oil account this year.

In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Finance said, “In accordance with this approval, the Government of Guyana has made its first transfer for 2024, totalling US$250million (equivalent to G$51.994 billion) from the NRF on March 5, 2024, to the Consolidated Fund, within the total of US$1.586 billion (equivalent to G$329.9 billion) approved to be withdrawn in 2024.”

Almost 30% of this year’s $1.146 trillion budget is funded through oil revenues.

Last year, the government withdrew a total of US$1.002 billion (G$208.9 billion) as approved in the National Assembly. In February this year, the government got a free pass to amend the NRF Act to increase withdrawals in the National Assembly as the Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) boycotted the debates over security concerns in the Opposition lounge.

The revised rule will take effect from this fiscal year and will replace the conservative rule that existed in the act. Under the revised proposals, a sliding scale is proposed for withdrawals from the first US$5 billion of deposits paid into the Fund in the immediately preceding fiscal year. Beyond the first US$5 billion, 90 percent of deposits in the immediately preceding fiscal year will be saved- a move that will benefit generations of Guyanese for years to come according to government.

Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton said by increasing the withdrawals from the NRF, government is endangering future generations. He 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.”

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.”

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Deposits, money, NRF, oil, withdraw

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