Govt makes 4th withdrawal of $62.3B for 2024 from NRF

– bringing accumulated withdrawals for 2024 to US$1.150B

The Government has withdrawn $62.3 billion (US$300 million) from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), marking the fourth tranche of the $329.8 billion in withdrawals approved by Parliament for 2024.
The announcement was made on Thursday, with the Finance Ministry stating that the sum was withdrawn from the NRF on October 1, 2024.
According to the Ministry, the NRF Act 2021, as amended by the Fiscal Enactments (Amendment) Act 2024, had seen parliamentary approval being granted for the total withdrawal of $329.8 billion for the year.
“In accordance with this approval, the Government of Guyana has made its fourth transfer for 2024, totalling US$300 million (equivalent to G$62.394 billion) from the NRF on October 1, 2024, to the Consolidated Fund. This transfer brings the accumulated withdrawals to date in 2024 to US$1.150 billion (equivalent to G$239.176 billion) within the total of US$1.586 billion (equivalent to G$329.9 billion),” the Finance Ministry stated.
In July, the third withdrawal was made from the NRF and deposited into the Consolidated Fund.
In 2022, the use of oil funds had constituted 23 per cent of the national budget, while in 2023 oil funds had constituted 26 per cent. This year’s budget was $1.146 trillion, and oil funds will constitute roughly 28 per cent.
Back in December 2021, the Government amended the NRF Act to bring greater transparency and accountability in the management of Guyana’s oil resources, including the requirement of the Government to seek annual parliamentary approval for withdrawals from the NRF as stated in Section 19 of the NRF Act 2021.
Pursuant to that provision, as part of its consideration of the budget process, the Parliament had approved a total of $208.9 billion (equivalent to US$1.002 billion) to be withdrawn from the NRF in 2023.
But during his presentation of the $1.146 trillion 2024 Budget in January, Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh pointed to the need for an “optimal and dynamic financing mix”.
“Our Government will be proposing… a revision to the NRF withdrawal rule which, once approved, will result in an upward revision to the NRF withdrawal amount to take effect from this fiscal year.
“The revised withdrawal rule will retain the important feature that as production and revenue ramp up further, an increasing share of the inflows into the NRF will be saved relative to the share transferred to the Consolidated Fund to finance national development priorities,” he had explained, adding that this proposal would be placed before the National Assembly for consideration and approval.
The funds in the NRF have their origins in the oil-rich Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where US oil major ExxonMobil and its partners – Hess Corporation and CNOOC – are producing light sweet crude using the Liza Destiny, Liza Unity, and more recently, the Prosperity Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels