In anticipation of the revenues that would flow from the emerging oil and gas sector here, Government has sought the assistance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide technical assistance in capacity-building, to manage the resources.
A team from that international financial institution was on Tuesday introduced to Cabinet by Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
The team leader informed Cabinet that Guyana has become eligible for assistance from the IMF under a donor-funded trust fund, and the team would make an assessment of Government’s policy direction and meet with agencies and persons that would be responsible for managing the oil and gas sector, to enable it to determine the areas in which assistance could be provided.
Since news of the oil find was made public, much advice intended to prevent Government from being afflicted by the “oil curse” has been pouring in, and Guyana has repeatedly been warned to be careful with the use of the revenues that would flow from this promising sector.
While it would take about three to four years before Guyana sees any money flowing from the oil reserves, Government is still to decide how it would split the revenues.
Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said that while Government has planned to establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), it is yet to determine just how the money would be utilised.
