The European Union (EU) today said that €25m related to two programmes is on hold until eligibility criteria are met by the government.
Significantly, it listed budget oversight as one of the criteria that will have to be met for disbursement. This strikes at the continuing suspension of Parliament – which has not met for more than six months- by the Ramotar administration and is exacerbated by the fact that there is not likely to be a new budget given the opposition’s instance that the only matter they will address in Parliament is a motion of no-confidence against the Ramotar administration.
The programmes relate to sugar and sea defences.
The statement followed charges last week by government officials, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon and Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh that the EU was in a conspiracy with the UK to deny the funds to Guyana.
The EU statement today follows:
The EU has a long standing commitment to support development and poverty reduction in Guyana. In 2014 EUR 34 million were allocated to Guyana under the 11th European Development Fund. EU aid is channelled through different modalities. Budget support is one of them.
The EU has two on-going budget support programmes in Guyana, one for the sugar sector (EUR 28.9 million) and one for sea defences (EUR 14.8 million). The latest partial payments related to these two programmes have been temporarily put on hold until all eligibility criteria, inter alia budget oversight, are satisfactorily addressed.
Smarting from the UK High Commission’s call for an end to prorogation of Parliament, the Ramotar govt has sought to link this to the EU’s withholding of budgetary support.
