The Government has withdrawn another US$200 million, equivalent to G$41.7 billion, from the Natural Resource Fund in accordance with the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act 2021.
On Thursday evening, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh announced that, pursuant to Section 16 of the NRF Act 2021, a further US$200 million, equivalent to G$41.6 billion, has been transferred from the Natural Resource Fund to the Consolidated Fund to finance national development priorities.
“It would be recalled that in May of this year, Government made its first withdrawal of $200 million, equivalent to G$41.7 billion. This brings the accumulated withdrawals to date from the NRF to US$400 million, equivalent to G$83.3 billion,” the Minister said in a statement.
This transfer was made in accordance with the strengthened legal architecture of the NRF Act 2021. The International Monetary Fund, which recently concluded the 2022 Article IV mission to Guyana in May-June of this year, commended Government on the amendments made to the NRF Act, and the staff concluding statement highlighted: “The recent amendments to the 2019 Natural Resource Fund Act set clear ceilings on withdrawals from the Fund for budgetary spending, and promote transparency in the management and use of oil resources. Staff praised the authorities’ thorough review of the 2019 NRF Act before making amendments, and the restraint in using any oil revenues before the passage of the amendments,” the statement noted.
The NRF Act 2021 came into operation on 1st January 2022, and as part of the Budget 2022 process, Parliamentary approval was granted for a total of US$607.6 million to be transferred during fiscal year 2022. Budget 2022 has been the first budget to be financed partly by Guyana’s oil revenues.
Since Exxon found crude in commercial quantities offshore in 2015, there have been 31 oil finds to date in the Stabroek Block, and an estimated recoverable resource of over 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
