The government may have to inject a further $12b this year into the struggling Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
GuySuCo and the industry as a whole are being examined following the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) which had been set up to examine its prospects.
According to the CoI report which was tabled in Parliament last year, the $12b subvention will be required this year “unless operational costs decline substantially and/or selling prices of sugar increase markedly”. These two prospects do not seem feasible at this point.
Last year, now dismissed Chief Executive Officer of GuySuCo, Dr Rajendra Singh had sought a subvention of $16b for 2015 shortly after the APNU+AFC government took office. This request was viewed with consternation by the new government and seen as evidence of the poor running of the corporation. Singh was removed shortly after.
Finance Minister Winston Jordan during his 2015 budget presentation in August had said that a total of $12b would go as a subvention to the sugar corporation for that year.
In 2014, $6b had been given as a subvention to GuySuCo and in that year and previous years, MPs attached to both APNU and the AFC had queried the continuing drain on the state’s finances and sought assurances that the monies would actually be able to restore the corporation to better financial health. This has however not happened and at last count, GuySuCo has been carrying a whopping $82b debt.
The CoI report, whose main recommendation is to privatise GuySuCo in three years is to be considered by the Economic Services Committee of Parliament. It had been originally expected that the government would have already taken a decision on the way forward for the industry.
