With Guyana still to tap major funding under its forest services deal with Norway, the AFC has questioned the legality of including just over $18 billion of the funds in the National Budget and has signalled that it intends to cut the entire allocation.
Speaking at a news conference earlier today, AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan and executive member Moses Nagamootoo both questioned whether government was seeking to deceive Guyanese by mentioning the Norwegian funds as revenue in the budget. “Last year they put $14 billion and nothing came in, zero, this year they put $18.3 billion… We will question the legality of doing that. This is not money that you received; this is not money in hand. There is no guarantee you will get this money,” said Nagamootoo, who noted that government was yet to provide evidence substantiating that the monies will be paid.
The funds will be considered as expenditure under the Finance Ministry, which will be scrutinised this afternoon by the National Assembly’s Committee of Supply.
Norway has agreed to provide Guyana up to US$250 million between 2011 and 2015 as a reward for preserving tropical rainforests that absorb greenhouses gases that cause climate change, under former President Bharat Jagdeo’s Low Carbon Development Strategy project. However, not all of the funds have been provided to Guyana because of the stringent processing measures implemented by the Norwegians to release the funds for carbon credit emissions.
Both Nagamootoo and Ramjattan questioned if the $18.3 billion was placed in the budget to “make the books look good” since without it, government’s $36 billion surplus will be reduced to only $18 billion. “This is wrong, misplaced” said Nagamootoo with Ramjattan chiming in “illegal too.”
The AFC said that when the money is secured, government may give estimates for capital projects and until then, including it in the budget is just a ploy with government “just trying to hoodwink people into thinking this is money that they have.”
