The public will have the opportunity to comment on the Guyana Sovereign Wealth Fund Bill, GINA said.
At last week’s consultation of the Petroleum Commission Bill at the Marriott Hotel, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman said that the Bill was handed over to the Minister of Finance who will be responsible for tabling it in the National Assembly.
“It’s, hopefully, not necessarily, going to be passed this year into Act but, the intention is that later this year it will be brought to the public for examination, scrutiny and improvement,” Trotman was quoted by GINA saying.
A Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is a state owned investment fund that is made up of surpluses from official foreign currency operations, proceeds of privatisations, governmental transfer payments, fiscal surpluses and/or receipts resulting from resource exports.
These monies can be used for investment purposes to benefit the country’s economy and citizens. Guyana’s SWF Bill was drafted by the Commonwealth Secretariat with input from the government and presented to the minister last December.
The Bill is fashioned after international model, particularly Norway. “We sought to fashion a Bill that held faithful to what is known as the Santiago Principles but at the same time, reflected the unique Guyanese context,” Trotman said.
The Santiago Principles are a set of generally accepted principles and practices that reflect SWFs investment practices and objectives.
However, concerns over the implications of the Bill in relation to Guyana’s Consolidated Fund have been raised.
