By Jomo Paul
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Finance Minister Winston Jordan has explained the absence of a University of Guyana subvention in the 2015 Budget, stating that the University is now able to fund itself.
Jordan at a post cabinet press briefing on Friday, August 28, said that while close to $1B was allocated to UG’s Turkeyen Campus, the decision was taken not to fund the loan programme since monies were accumulated in the revolving fund.
With that, he explained that the fund will now come into play for the next two years. Jordan said the fund reflects a balance of close to $1B which will be sufficient for that period.
“Enough has accumulated in the revolving fund for the loan fund to start revolving…as a result of a combination of repayments and unused balances that they have been given them through the years,” the Finance Minister stated.
In the past the University benefited from an annual government subvention of $450M which was used to fund student loans. Despite the fund now being activated, millions of dollars are still owed to the University of Guyana Student Loan Facility because very few graduates have been repaying their debt.
