Minister of State Joseph Harmon in a shocking revelation on Thursday announced that the PetroCaribe fund, which the new APNU+AFC coalition government inherited from the previous People’s Progressive Party Civic administration, was bankrupt.
The revelation means that the new government, which will not be ready with a national budget until September, has to find a total of US$15M to pay local farmers when they are ready to export the next shipment of rice to Venezuela.
“The fact of the matter is based on the very casual and callous manner in which the previous administration dealt with the proceeds from that arrangement, the fund was almost bankrupt, there is nothing in it,” a disappointed Harmon told reporters who gathered at the Ministry of the Presidency for his first official press conference.
Harmon could not provide specific figures when pressed on the issue but assured that the money will be found to pay farmers because “we believe there is no fault on the part of our farmers but it has to do with the way the previous administration handled that fund.”
Under the Venezuela sponsored Petrocaribe deal, a mechanism was created whereby Guyana could establish this fund to be used for the development of the energy sector as well as other areas such as social projects.
Under the current trade agreement, Guyana is expected to supply approximately 210,000 tonnes of paddy and polished rice annually to Venezuela, the proceeds of which is placed in the fund.
The value of the current supply amounts to US$130 million. But according to Harmon, “we spent more than what came in. We’re receiving demands for sums of monies that were not paid to farmers. We’re getting people who are turning up saying they were not paid.”
A concerned Harmon lamented “it’s a very serious situation which we face. Monies were spent, which were not meant to be spent from this fund. A very serious level of mismanagement of the fund occurred.”
The previous government had said that monies from the fund were utilized for the construction of the Hope Canal among other projects.
The new APNU+AFC Cabinet has since approved the establishment of a sub – committee to aggressively look for other rice markets apart from Venezuela. The Minister of State explained that later this year Guyana is expected to generate a huge rice production but there are no current markets for such productions.
Cabinet has also approved an aggressive approach, led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, to ensure that new markets are found for the production of rice.
The Cabinet was also advised that the governance system within the rice industry needs careful examination to ensure there was transparency in the appointment of the Boards and various supervisory entities.
The Minister of State explained that the current situation at hand and the steps to be taken by the government will not affect Guyana’s bilateral relations with its neighbour. (Kurt Campbell)
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