The National Assembly has greenlighted contingency fund advances totalling over $8.5 billion for agencies under the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Agriculture, for April 1 to July 30, 2024.
Contingency funds are created to help cope with any unforeseen circumstances.
The financial paper No. 1 of 2024 was proposed by the Senior Minister within the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh when the National Assembly convened on Friday.
Some $4 billion was approved by the house, which was utilised to purchase some 547,000 barrels of oil for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Incorporated.
Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, who appeared in the Committee of Supply to defend the sums, said the monies were expended to ensure the continued power supply to GPL’s thousands of consumers.
“The fuel was supplied to the Guyana Power and Light and it was utilised throughout the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS)…We are generating power for the people of Guyana who live in the DBIS,” the prime minister relayed while responding to questions posed by an opposition parliamentarian.
Additionally, he informed that $400 million of the $4B, was utilised for other fuel-related costs.
The House was reminded that the current administration has managed to keep electricity costs from increasing due to the financial interventions implemented.
“We come to this house, we ask for money to keep the power on, but we have not increased the rates. Whatever the people are paying now is the same rate that they were paying before COVID-19,” PM Phillips underscored.
Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, appeared before the committee to defend the allocation of $4.5 billion outlined in the financial paper.
The financial provisions include the $524 million for operational costs of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
It was noted that several issues, such as paddy bug infestation, the effects of El Niño, and the need for irrigation works in rice cultivation, required millions in funding.
“Paddy bugs were [just] one issue; we had another issue to do with irrigation. We had to put systems in place and get the canals cleaned in certain areas,” he explained.
The minister further questioned, “You want us to leave the rice farmers on their own like what APNU+AFC did?”
Sums totalling $4 billion for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuco) were also approved on Friday. Like the rice industry, the sugar industry also suffered from the effects of El Niño. However, Minister Mustapha made it clear that there is no sugar shortage in Guyana and funds will be invested to expand sugar production.
