Even as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continues to play a high-profile role in the creation of robust energy governance structures for Guyana ahead of the start of the country’s oil recovery programme and the recovery of returns therefrom, the Bank’s president, Luis Alberto Moreno, has signalled the institution’s satisfaction with the stewardship of the coalition administration in its pursuit of the realisation of those structures.
During a meeting with President David Granger at State House on Monday, Moreno declared that the Bank remained “side by side” with the coalition administration as it continued to “push forward” towards oil recovery and the transformation of the resource into economic wealth, a media release issued by the Public Information and Press Services Unit said at the conclusion of the meeting.
The release, which quoted extensively from Moreno’s presentation during his engagement with President Granger quoted him as saying that the Bank has been “privileged” to work with the Guyanese president “as you prepare things that are so timely like your Sovereign Wealth Fund.”
A Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is a pool of foreign currency reserves owned by a government. The largest and most significant of these are owned by countries that realise significant trade surpluses, primarily oil-exporting countries. Those funds are then invested in projects with the aim of realising the highest financial returns or otherwise used to undertake domestic development-oriented projects.
With the contribution of the IDB having featured prominently in supporting Guyana in its quest for the creation of an effectively structured and efficiently managed SWF, the release quotes Moreno as saying that the president’s leadership has been “central” to the process “and we are very happy to be side to side with you.” Contextually, the IDB president sounded a distinctive note of optimism asserting his conviction that “the best days of Guyana” which lie ahead were likely to materialise largely from the work that was being undertaken by the Guyanese president “to cement that future for the Guyanese people.”
This week’s visit here by the IDB president is being seen as a further indication of the Bank’s preparedness to work with the government in pursuit of its oil and gas-related goals. The visit follows the disclosure in December that the Bank had extended a US$11.64 million policy-based loan to be assigned to a project aimed at supporting the strengthening and the sustainability of the energy sector in Guyana by contributing to the institutional development of oil and gas governance and the development of cleaner energy sources for electricity generation.
An earlier release from the Department of Public Information had said that the objectives of the loan were “to develop a management and planning framework for Guyana’s oil and gas sector; and second, to contribute towards the development of a policy framework so that Guyana may diversify its electricity generation matrix using cleaner or renewable sources.”
Last Monday’s release on Moreno’s meeting with President Granger disclosed that the exchange saw the Guyanese president re-state his administration’s and Guyana’s gratitude for the Bank’s backing, “and especially with your support in the oil and gas sector.” Alluding to the “significant support” which has already been forthcoming from the IDB, President Granger signalled that Guyana continued to regard the Bank’s support “as we try to build very strong, sturdy and robust policies for the [oil and gas] sector.”
President Granger, meanwhile, communicated to the Bank’s president, his administration’s wish for an even closer working relationship with the Bank “in other areas such as climate-related financing, infrastructure development and support for migrants.”
