…says less loans likely as Guyana transitions to oil and gas production
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says its country strategy for Guyana for the next five years was recently approved and will be focusing on institutional strengthening and infrastructure investment “to help prepare the country as an emerging oil economy.”
The development bank will be providing Guyana with $US86.1M in concessional financing which it says will be used to ensure continuity with Guyana’s existing portfolio commitments.
Moreover, IDB noted that as Guyana transitions to oil and gas production by mid-2020, it is expected that the country will likely see reduced access to concessional resources from the multilateral development banks.
“This means that the next four years are particularly important for the IDB’s long partnership with Guyana. Several risks will need to be swiftly addressed including the continued vulnerability to commodity price shocks, and the adequate creation of new government structures to manage a hitherto unknown sector” said the IDB.
Additionally the Bank said its activities will be primarily focused within four areas; “establishing a modern national strategy and planning framework for undergirding the new Green State Development Strategy, including efforts to promote Guyana’s economic diversification efforts and pursue modern industrial policies; strengthening fiscal policies and the framework for managing Guyana’s natural resource revenues; facilitating private sector development to support the delivery of better services, mainly through enhancing Guyana’s business environment; and delivering critical infrastructure to facilitate Guyana’s human and private sector development.”
The 2012-2016 IDB Guyana Country Strategy was focused on four areas: specifically, natural resource management; sustainable energy; private sector development; and public-sector management.
According to IDB, during this period their portfolio in Guyana consisted of 13 new loans totaling US$143.6M; investment grant operations totaling US$51.9M; and 30 technical cooperations in various sectors.
“The IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) approved four separate operations totaling US$4.0 million. Despite efforts by the Government to overcome difficulties in loan disbursements, slow portfolio performance reflected Guyana’s challenging institutional environment” said the Development Bank.
