United States, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols has confirmed that Guyana has received initial approval for a US$500M loan from the US Export-Import Bank for its Gas-to-Energy project.

Guyana had approached the bank seeking US$646M to assist with the construction of the project.

At a media briefing yesterday, the US State Department Official said in addition to the loan, the US sees Guyana as a strategic partner and has been forging increased partnerships in a number of areas.

“The strategic elevation of our relationship with Guyana, the fastest-growing economy in the world, provides further proof that these partnerships produce results.  Our interagency partners at U.S. Southern Command strengthened bilateral defense cooperation through medical missions, flood relief operations, joint training exercises, and military equipment transfers.  We also partnered with U.S. companies, which invested more than $15 billion in Guyana between 2021 and 2024.  In November, the U.S. Export-Import Bank gave initial approval for a $500 million loan guarantee to support a $2 billion U.S.-built gas to energy project that represents the largest foreign investment in Guyana’s history,” Nichols told the media.

A few activists had written to the bank in a bid to block the loan, raising environmental and other concerns. The concerns included the project’s feasibility.

Two weeks ago, the Vice President announced the approval of the loan, but the AFC had later stated that it received word that no final approval had been granted since the process was ongoing.

For final approval, the loan application has to go through a number of processes and placed before the US Congress. With a change of Government coming in the US, it could take months before the new Congress gets down to examining the loan application for the US ExIm Bank.

While awaiting approval of the loan, the Guyana Government said it has dolled out some US$$400 million in lieu of that approval, and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said that Government was prepared to continue funding the project if the loan was not approved.

The Government has been pressing for the major gas to energy project to move forward, since it believes it could lead to better and cheaper energy being provided.

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