The Guyana Natural Resource Fund (NRF) was set up by the APNU+AFC Coalition government to serve as an intergenerational savings fund. The NRF, however, will soon stand empty as the PPP outlines plans to withdraw all revenues that have been deposited into it to date. The current deposited sum totals $126.7 billion Guyana dollars.
This is according to the 2022 budget presentation delivered by the installed Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh. Singh stated, “Budget 2022 projects a withdrawal from the NRF and transfer to the Consolidated Fund of $126.7 billion.”
The sum of $126.7 billion represents 2 years of oil revenues from the Liza Destiny FPSO (2020 and 2021) and falls well short of the over $200 billion borrowed by the PPP government over that same period. With Guyana’s Non-Oil economy shrinking by 7.3% in 2020 and then only registering growth of 4.6% in 2021, the PPP appears to be betting that spending all the money in the NRF will lead to economic recovery.
An economic analyst our publication spoke with noted, “If the former APNU+AFC government and Department of Energy did not fast track all of the preparation work for oil production and set up the framework for it, Guyana would have been doomed now and all what is being touted and spent now would not have been possible.”
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