–Guyana recognised for efforts to improve oil funds transparency, improve management of NRF
Since its creation over five years ago, the progress that Guyana has made towards strengthening the management of its Natural Resource Fund (NRF) has been recognized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In its 2025 Article IV statement, the IMF noted that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has made substantial progress in enhancing how the NRF, which stores Guyana’s revenue from oil and gas, is managed.
The IMF noted that the Government has been able to do this with its NRF and Public Accountability and Oversight Committee Annual Reports which it has presented to the National Assembly.
Additionally, the PPP/C’s decision to implement a system of legislative requirements to regularly disclose the receipts of oil revenues to the public, was also recognized by the financial institution.
They pointed out that these notifications are published in the Official Gazette and presented to the National Assembly. Additionally, the Bank of Guyana is charged with publishing monthly and quarterly reports of the NRF’s financial performance.
“The authorities have also made good progress in modernizing their revenue administration capacity. The procurement framework is being upgraded, improving public access to information about procurement opportunities and processes and building capacity among public officials.”
“As part of broader digitalization efforts in public sector service delivery, work is ongoing to introduce e-procurement,” the IMF further explained in their statement.
As of 2024, as much as 60 percent of all of Guyana’s revenue from the oil and gas sector has been saved in the NRF, with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo confirming in December that less than half of Guyana’s oil revenue so far has been spent.
Jagdeo had pointed out that as of September of 2024, US$3.2 billion ($665 billion) remained in the NRF. During last year, the NRF received inflows from six oil lifts from the Liza Unity, Destiny and Prosperity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels… four of those lifts occurring in the third quarter.
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.
In 2022, for the first time, Guyana used oil funds to finance a national budget. In fact, in 2022, the Government withdrew a total of $126 billion (US$607.6 million) in three tranches from the NRF, which went towards financing Guyana’s national development plans.
In 2023, US$1.002 billion was withdrawn to finance national development priorities. The last of eight withdrawals for last year was made on December 27, 2023, from the NRF to the Consolidated Fund, to the tune of US$152.1 million (equivalent to $31.6 billion).
In October 2024, the Government made a withdrawal of $62.3 billion (US$300 million) from the NRF, marking the fourth tranche of the $329.8 billion in withdrawals approved by Parliament for 2024.
During a sitting of the National Assembly in November 2024, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, had laid the Natural Resource Fund notification of receipts in the house.
It had shown that profit oil payments were received for six oil lifts from the Liza Unity, Destiny and FPSO vessels. During that sitting, the Government gave account to the National Assembly for the US$582 Million in funds that were received from both oil and royalty payments during the third quarter of 2024.
