Introduction
In the course of his presentation of Budget Speech 2018 delivered on November 27, 2017, the Minister of Finance announced that the Government of Guyana would be partnering with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB/the Bank), through the Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), to update the expertise and technology in rice production through a Reverse Linkage Project to the tune of US$863,000. The Bank did not feature in the exchanges in the Budget debate so it was with more than a little surprise that the local media, citing a speech by the Minister to the annual meeting of the Bank, reported that the Bank would be lending roughly US$900 million to Guyana, its newest member.
It would have been, after all, the largest single loan ever taken by this country, and on a per capita basis, the largest loan ever extended to a member country by the Islamic Development Bank. The Ministry of Finance later walked back on that statement, clarifying that it was rather a “resource envelope of US900M that is potentially available from which the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana can borrow.” The ministry’s clarification said that during the period 27-29 November 2017, the IsDB mounted a mission to Guyana to develop a medium term work plan for the period 2018- 2022, setting out a pipeline of projects that the Bank can support over the next five years.