…to help build capacity in oil and gas sector
Guyana is expected to access an advance to a US$20 million World Bank loan to build capacity in the oil and gas industry by June.
Natural Resources Minster Raphael Trotman said Government would like to access an advance of US$1.7 million but needed to “urgently” establish a Project Implementation Unit (PIU).
The PIU, spearheaded by the Natural Resources Ministry, must include a coordinator, financial director and have procurement capacities among other requirements. “Once those are in place we can receive the advance, and the larger tranche [portion] will be forthcoming towards the end of the year,” Minister Trotman is quoted by the Department of Public Information as saying.
The loan will be used to build oil and gas capacity in three important areas. “Strengthening the regulatory framework, working with the Government on the issues of bringing the gas to shore and the other one is just general capacity building,” he further explained.
Funds will also be used to build the capacity of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and other institutions that will monitor cost recovery and similar measures in the oil and gas industry.
On Tuesday, Minister Trotman and Minister within the Natural Resources Ministry Simona Broomes met with the World Bank’s Country Director for Caribbean Countries and Latin America, Tahseen Sayed, along with other technical experts to discuss the loan which was secured by Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
Sayed noted that the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) has “significantly increased more than three folds the allocation for Guyana” from mid-2018. IDA is the concessional financing window of the World Bank.
Guyana’s allocations now stand at US$85 million over a three-year period, Sayed explained. The US$20 million loan is part of this allocation, she added.
Minister Trotman stated that the World Bank will be the country’s primary financial institution in the development of the oil and gas industry.
