Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has confirmed that the US$20M World Bank loan taken in 2019 by the Granger administration to strengthen the country’s capacity to manage the oil sector is on pause. The government’s oil boss said there is no need to tap into those resources at the moment since much is already being accomplished without it.
During a press conference on Friday the Vice President said, “We have not been rushing to access this money because people think accessing the money somehow means you are doing something but we have done quite a bit without touching this money. We have probably done much more without touching these loans than APNU+AFC did, especially as it pertains to improving transparency.”
The Vice President added, “We see this loan as a line of credit that we will utilize if we need to bring in people to strengthen the ministry and various aspects of regulating the sector but not because we will be wantonly using out the loan.”
According to the latest Implementation Status and Results (ISR) report, the US$20M loan was approved on March 29, 2019 for the Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project (GPRGMP). The programme’s objective is to ensure the enhancement of legal and institutional frameworks and the strengthening of the capacity of key institutions to manage the oil and gas sector.
The latest ISR states that only 24% of the total credit has been disbursed.
The bank, in its report, said that the government has indicated as recently as late December 2021, its intention to “refine the scope of the project to bring it in line with current government priorities.”
The World Bank said it remains on standby awaiting any guidance from the Guyana Government on the status and direction of the project and a resumption of critical project activities.
