Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund was valued at $359.3B or US$1.7B at the end June 2023, a Central Bank report stated. According to the operational manager of the Fund, this reflected an increase of 17.68% over the previous period.
The Fund also recorded a profit of $4.1B during the second quarter in comparison with $3.3B for the preceding quarter, solely due to interest earned on deposits. Bank of Guyana said this resulted in a return of 1.159% for the quarter compared with 1.059% in the previous quarter. The Fund also earned an annualized return of 1.097% since its inception.
Guyana Standard understands that the Board of Directors of the Natural Resource Fund at its meeting held on June 26, 2023 also approved the updated investment mandate for the Fund. It was mandated that the funds be maintained in the deposit account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York earning overnight deposit interest at the prevailing federal funds rate of 5.05%. It was also agreed that the Bank of Guyana will continue to monitor the overnight interest rate and inform the board of any changes by the Federal Reserve Bank to consider redeploying cash.
The Natural Resource Fund was formed by the enactment of the Natural Resource Fund Act 2019 which was passed in the National Assembly on January 3, 2019 and assented to by the President on January 23, 2019. This act was subsequently replaced with the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 which was passed in the National Assembly on December 29, 2021 and assented to by the President on December 30, 2021.
The Act gives the Bank of Guyana the responsibility for the operational management of the Fund. The quarterly report is produced in fulfilment of the requirements set out in section 29 (2) of the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 which requires the Bank of Guyana to report on the activities and financial performance of the Natural Resource Fund.
