Govt seeking over $40B in supplementary funding for GPL, GuySuCo, other sectors

The Government is requesting more than $40 billion in additional funding to bolster crucial sectors of the nation’s economy, including the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh presented Financial Papers Numbers 1 and 2 to the National Assembly on Wednesday during the 84th sitting of the 12th Parliament.
Some $16 billion is being sought by the Government for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), specifically $4 billion from Financial Paper 1 and a $12 billion Supplementary request in Financial Paper 2.
In addition, the administration is requesting $1.1 billion for additional resources to support electricity companies in Linden, Lethem, Mabaruma and Matthew’s Ridge.
It was explained that the funds for the electricity sector will go towards absorbing the impact of rising fuel prices on the cost of services being provided by electricity companies to ensure that it does not translate to higher electricity prices for consumers.
The finance ministry stated that the government has implemented several measures to mitigate the rising fuel costs – one of which is the removal of the excise tax since March 2022 thus resulting in over $80 billion in savings to citizens annually.
To bring greater reliability to the power provided by GPL, some 36 MW of power were added to the national grid through an agreement with the Turkish Company Karpowership.
Further, the sum of 9.5 billion was requested for GuySuCo as part of the government’s continued efforts to revitalise the industry in line with its commitment to the country and to re-energise local communities.
Meanwhile, under Financial Paper 2 the sum of $1.6 billion is being sought for Sea and River Defence works to be conducted by the Public Works, $297.4 million to support the operations of the Transport and Harbours Department, $159.2 million for the completion of the Bartica Stelling and $680.5 million to facilitate critical upgrades to Ferry Vessels.
Moreover, as the government continues to improve connectivity across the country, especially in the infrastructure sector, an additional $904 million for the construction and rehabilitation of hinterland roads and $600 million for the completion of infrastructure for the critical supply of water to these far-flung communities were also requested.
Additionally, the government has requested the sum of $2.3 billion to settle outstanding payments owed to numerous suppliers of goods and services over the years.

Electricity
The sum of $95.7 billion was allocated in the 2024 budget for the energy sector, of which $1.3 billion went towards energy expansion and diversification,
The sum of $80 billion was also budgeted separately to advance the flagship 300 MW gas-to-energy (GtE) project with an additional $4.8 billion was provided to finance several solar power projects across the country.

GuySuCo
GuySuCo received $6 billion to bolster its production and operational efficiency this year.
During the presentation of budget 2024, Dr. Singh highlighted plans to convert an additional 7, 100 hectares of land for mechanised harvesting.
This is in addition to works to be completed on the Albion and Blairmont Packaging Plants such as the installation of a sugar dryer at the Blairmont Estate.

Public Works
Furthermore, the government allocated $221.4 billion to the Ministry of Public Works in the 2024 budget with $204.1billion being allocated to roads and bridges, $2.3billion to air transport, $8.1billion for river transport, and $6.9billion for sea and river defence.
In 2023, the government expended $134.3 billion to improve road connectivity across, of which over $65.9 billion was expended under the miscellaneous, urban and hinterland roads programme to upgrade, construct and rehabilitate roads in communities across the country. A further $8.5 billion was expended to construct, rehabilitate, and maintain our bridges.