Power company sees yearend deficit of $9.5b

The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) is projecting a deficit at the end of this year of $9.5b compared to the figure of $9.8b which was projected at the start of the year.

The Mid-year report for 2019 released last week by the Ministry of Finance said that at the end of June 2019, GPL recorded a cash deficit of $4.2 billion, compared to a cash deficit of $3.7 billion in the corresponding period last year.

GPL’s receipts totalled $15.7 billion at mid-year, a shortfall of $1.4 billion from the budgetary position, and $0.6 billion lower  than the first half of 2018. This was mainly due to a fall in sales collection, which was a result of a 61.5 percent collection rate for Government accounts, and actual billed sales falling below budget by 3 percent.