Russia to write-off Guyana’s remaining debt

The Russian government has agreed to write-off Guyana’s remaining debt under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) agreement. 

This was disclosed by Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett during an interview with Guyana Times International on Thursday December 29. She revealed  that Guyana had previously been granted some debt relief from the Russian government, but it has now decided to write-off the entire stock of Guyana’s debt. It is unclear how much the write-off is valued. Minister Rodrigues stated that Russia and Guyana have enjoyed diplomatic relations for the past 40 years. 

She mentioned that, in August 2010, Guyana decided to abolish the visa requirements for Russian nationals travelling here. She expressed hope that the countries would continue to share mutual engagements that would benefit both states. Guyana has, over the years, enjoyed significant debt write-offs under the HPIC initiative. At the end of last June, Guyana’s total external public debt amounted to US$966.2 million, compared to US$993 million at the end of December 2009. This was revealed by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh in his mid-year report, presented to the National Assembly in August. 

Singh had said that the increase of 3.5 per cent in the stock of external debt reflected new disbursements of about US48.2 million, of which US$39.8 million was obtained from the Inter-American Development Bank and Venezuela, as well as from repayments of principal of about US$6.4 million in the first half of the year. 

Additionally, Singh had said that in the first half of 2010, the total actual external debt service payments amounted to US$12.3 million, compared to US$6.8 million for the same period in 2009. In particular, the repayment of the principal during the first half of 2010 totalled US$6.4 million, compared to US$2.6 million in the same period last year. Similarly, interest repayments in the first half of 2010 amounted to approximately US$5.9 million, an increase of about US$1.7 million over last year’s figures. The overall increase in debt service payments in the first half of 2010, Singh had said, can be attributed mainly to Guyana having commenced debt service payments to Venezuela under the PetroCaribe arrangement, and to first-time principal repayments on some Caribbean Development Bank loans.       

Meanwhile, Rodrigues-Birkett said, Guyana has significantly boosted its diplomatic capacity with the appointment of several honorary consuls to countries such as Brazil, China and Kuwait this year.  

“We have since appointed Dr Odeen Ishmael as the ambassador to Kuwait, as the first representative (the first time Guyana is being represented) in that part of the world, as we seek to consolidate and form alliances,” the foreign affairs minister stated. She pointed out that Dr Ishmael is expected to take up his post in January. 

President Bharrat Jagdeo has also made good on his promise made during the commissioning of the Takutu Bridge, to upgrade Guyana’s representative to Boa Vista in the person of Consul General Leila King. “The Brazilian government has given its no-objection to her appointment, because once we appoint someone, they always indicate whether they accept the appointment,” Minister Rodrigues related. 

She said that a formal opening of the Consul General Office in Brazil is scheduled for sometime in the New Year. Guyana currently does not have an ambassador to Brazil. Recently, former Housing and Water Minister Harrinarine Nawbatt was moved from that country as ambassador to head Guyana’s mission in Canada. Minister Rodrigues disclosed, too, that Guyana has recently approved the appointments of an honorary consul of Germany to Guyana and an honorary consul of Guyana to Saudi Arabia. 

The Guyanese government has also given a nod of approval to the establishment of an Australian consulate here. The foreign affairs minister further pointed out that Australia has reached out to Caricom, and has indicated its interest in working with Guyana in the area of climate change. She said that Guyana looks forward to the establishment of the Australian consulate. She also noted that government intends to maintain frequent political and diplomatic contact with China, and has since appointed Professor David Dabydeen as its representative there. He took up office in September 2010. 

Minister Rodrigues stated that this is in keeping with government’s policy to create new alliances and partnerships across the globe. 

President Jagdeo has made several trips to countries in the Middle East, including Kuwait, Jordan, and Syria, to improve bilateral ties.