Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh said the government has not made a loss on the sale of the Cricket World Cup BMW luxury sedans, even though they were sold at a price well below what had been previously advertised.
Speaking to this newspaper last week, the minister said that having imported the vehicles tax-free, the government opted to sell them off without applying those taxes.
Selling them at any higher price was proving difficult, as the government discovered last year.
He said the price of $9 million (US$45,000) each was not “just” the purchase price, hinting that the government still made a profit off the sale. The minister said it wouldn’t have mattered whether or not the buyer was the holder of a duty-free concession, since everyone paid the same price.
The 12 vehicles went quickly once government advertised them for sale at $9 million each. When the vehicles were first offered for sale last year, there were no takers, since the price was somewhere in the double digit millions, to use Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon’s description.
The government had hoped to be able to recoup the full amount of duties payable in the eventual sale.
Singh confirmed that government has decided to keep the seven SUVs and one of the sedans for official use.
The vehicles were first used to facilitate the appropriate level and quality of transportation for the Heads of State and other dignitaries who attended the Rio Summit held here in March last year. They were next used to transport the Chief Executive Officer and other executives participating in the Guyana leg of the Cricket World Cup 2007 Super Eight matches.
