The National Insurance Scheme (NIS) has extended the date for investment proposals from the public.
According to its original advertisement on March 25, 2016, the NIS had set the date for the submission of proposals at April 8, 2016. In an amended notice on April 1, 2016 it listed the deadline as April 30, 2016.
The extension came in the wake of a letter to the press from Roy Beepat, Chairman of the Giftland Group who had queried whether the original deadline was accurate as it would not be possible for any serious potential investor to prepare papers of this magnitude in eight working days.
In the advertisement, the NIS made an open call for investment proposals from companies or financial institutions with regard to investment opportunities in Guyana and in the Caribbean.
The advertisement says that these investments can be equity, debt or other appropriate financial instruments.
Proposals must be for investments within the range of $300 million to $3 billion with a duration of medium to long term.
Investments will be assessed for financial sustainability and balanced with the appropriate risk that will guarantee the social protection benefits of the Scheme.
The proposals must be accompanied by the audited accounts for the three most recent years of operations.
Proposals are to be submitted to the Secretary of the Board via email at board_secretary@nis.org.gy. Investment decisions for 2016/2017 will be made for suitable proposals received up to April 30, 2016.
For several decades, the NIS has been beset by concerns about poor investment decisions. The situation worsened when $5.2 billion was lost in investments with the Clico group. The poor investments coincided with annual deficits at the Scheme.
