Govt. will only list emergency projects funded by oil money – Jagdeo

Dec 14, 2024 News

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…says national development priorities are reflected in the budget

Kaieteur News- Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said that the Government of Guyana will only list emergency projects being funded by oil money. Jagdeo was at the time addressing reporters at his party’s weekly press conference.

“Any clown would know the national development priorities of the government is reflected in its annual budget which is approved by Parliament. Parliament determines that, not the NRF (Natural Resource Fund) members of the Board or Terrence Campbell from the Investment Committee. It’s the Parliament, the people who are elected by the people of the country. Not an Opposition representative to the Investment Committee.”

Jagdeo’s statement follows a series of concerns raised earlier in the week regarding the lack of transparency in the use of the country’s oil revenue.

The issue gained traction, following an article by Kaieteur News, where it was reported that Jagdeo said showing how the revenue from oil is spent would be difficult.

Section 16.2 of the NRF Act states that, “All withdrawals from the Fund shall be deposited into the Consolidated Fund and shall be used only to finance: (a) national development priorities including any initiative aimed at realizing an inclusive green economy, and (b) essential projects that are directly related to ameliorating the effect of a major natural disaster.”

Be that as it may, the government has not highlighted any national development priority or essential project funded through this source of income.

In fact, the VP said at his December 5, 2024 press conference reasoned, “How do you balkanize revenue coming into the budget? (It) becomes a very difficult thing to do.”

This explanation attracted criticism from both the Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes and former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan who argued that in the absence of transparency, the NRF has become a slush fund for the government.

Jagdeo however said that providing a breakdown of how the resources are used is not a legal requirement of the Natural Resource Fund Act of 2021. To this end, the former President maintained, “It would be very difficult to do so, but that we have vastly enhanced the transparency surrounding the use of oil money and the changes that we have made in the NRF, we are acting pursuant to those changes in compliance with the law.”

Jagdeo went on to regurgitate what was done by the administration to improve transparency in the management of the Natural Resource Fund. “We removed any spending on the fund without Parliamentary approval so under his (Winston Jordan’s) model, you could have gone and spent money from the NRF without Parliamentary approval.”

Secondly, he highlighted that all receipts to the fund are now published in the Official Gazette and tabled in Parliament within three months of receipt. The Minister of Finance could be charged and face 10 years jail time for failing to comply with the law.

Additionally, the Vice President boasted that government introduced a Board of Directors to manage the Fund, compared with the Central Bank on the direction of the Minister of Finance, under the previous administration.

Meanwhile, Jagdeo went on to point out that the formula for transfers to the Treasury was also simplified, compared with the previous provision where the amount was determined by the Minister of Finance. He also highlighted the establishment of a Public Accountability and Oversight Board that supplies an annual report to Parliament.

The Vice President was keen to note that Section 20 (1) of the NRF Act states that the annual budget proposal shall include a detailed estimate of petroleum revenues for the next ensuing fiscal year and each of the next following three fiscal years. It also requires an estimate of withdrawal from the fund for the next ensuing fiscal year, which was complied with by the government.

This information could be found in the Budget document, which Parliament fine tunes during the Budgetary process.

Identifying projects funded by oil money

According to Jagdeo, government would only identify projects funded by oil money which was withdrawn for emergency purposes.

He explained, “Outside of this annual withdrawal which is captured by a ceiling now and formula…government can draw down money for one specific additional purpose that’s in case we have a national emergency for example a major flood disaster or a tsunami…in that case there is no ceiling but you can’t go and say oh I’m forecasting. You have to give the projects and the specific use of the fund if you trigger that provision of the law.”

He pointed out that that provision was never triggered.  “So that’s the only case where you have to detail the expenditure made from the oil revenue to have the withdrawal done,” Jagdeo said.

(Govt. will only list emergency projects funded by oil money – Jagdeo)

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• clown, Jagdeo, money, NRF, oil, priorities, Transparency

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