Guyana is CDB’s sixth largest borrower

With over US0 million in loans, Guyana has been marked as the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) sixth largest borrower out of its 19 borrowing member countries, an International Monetary Fund country report said.

It stated that the CDB remains one of Guyana’s most important development partners, accounting for over 20 per cent of the country’s multilateral debt stock. Total loans approved for Guyana from CDB’s inception (January 26, 1970) to December 31, 2015 amounted to $298.3 million, representing 6.5 per cent of CDB’s total approved lending, the report indicated.

“Guyana is also the largest recipient of grant funding from CDB after Haiti, with cumulative grant approvals amounting to US$31.1 million as of December 31, 2015,” the report stated, explaining that of the total amount of loans approved, there are outstanding balances totalling $143.6 million as of December 31, 2015. As of that date, undisbursed balances remained of $57.15 million.

Most of the interventions programmed in CDB’s 2013-17 Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for Guyana had already been approved as of December 31, 2015, the report explained, highlighting that these included the Sea and River Defence Resilience Project in the amount of US$25 million and the US$7.5 million Sugar Mechanisation Project, which both remain under implementation.

The Sugar Mechanisation Project also entailed approval of a small grant component to address gender integration issues in the sugar industry. Other grants approved under the CSP totalled some $2.25 million as of December 31, 2015, which largely reflected the approval of the eighth cycle of the Basic Needs Trust Fund poverty reduction programme in Guyana (BNTF 8).

It noted that Guyana also benefited during this period from grant funding under CDB’s Caribbean Technological Consultancy Services programme, as well as the Stand-by Facility for Caribbean Single Market and Economy Implementation.

An uptick in approval activity is anticipated, commencing from the latter half of 2016. It stated that new resources have become available for Guyana and the project pipeline is currently being expanded and the CSP revised accordingly.

Presently, Guyana has been repaying its debt to the Inter-American Development Bank at higher rates than its expected disbursements under the investment loan portfolio.

As of 31 January 2016, Guyana’s total outstanding debt to the IDB is US$488,044,005 and net loan flows are projected to continue to be negative in 2016.