The Green Paper on the Natural Resources Fund (NRF), which will deal with the question of management of anticipated oil revenues starting in 2020, is anticipated to be laid in the National Assembly next month.
This is according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan, who told reporters last Friday that the Green Paper — a report on Government’s proposals — was presented to Cabinet to be reviewed. According to Jordan, a second review will be done when Cabinet next meets on July 31.
“We will revise the paper in time for presentation to the last Parliament, which is on or before August 10, 2018,” he explained, adding that the draft legislation for the fund is with the Attorney General’s Chambers.
“Once the AG’s Chambers (are) finished with that bill, it will get its review at Cabinet, and then we will put it out for consultations. We will take back whatever comments, and then we will revise the bill and make it ready for Parliament,” he explained, adding that the bill will be laid in the National Assembly by the year end.
In referring to some of the announcements made in a press statement issued by Government through the Finance Ministry, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo recently said he still did not agree with the model being proposed for the Natural Resource Fund, which could cater for a representative from the Opposition.
“We don’t want politicians — we ourselves — to manage this money. This fund has to be independently technically managed — not by politicians again and stored at the Central Bank. We have a problem with that model; it departs radically from best practices, like (obtains in) Norway and the other countries,” he added.
Government has said that legislation in relation to the fund could be laid in Parliament before the end of the year, as indicated in Budget 2018. It said that the proposed legislation addresses two main issues: stability of the economy, and saving for future generations. Advice on this fund is being sought from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Jagdeo has also criticised the Government for peddling a political assessment of the oil and gas sector. “The real substantive matters are still not being addressed,” he said, while noting that Finance Minister Winston Jordan has been engaged in a lot of fluff talks with members of the public on this matter.
