With Guyana’s Natural Resources Fund (NRF) soon to be set up, former Trinidad and Tobago Ambassador to the United States and senior consultant with the multinational law firm Dentons Dr. Neil Parsan has emphasised that it must not be abused politically.
“Not a fan of political interference… you must have well equipped policies in place for corporate governance. Put the right people in the right places. I would not hire a plumber to do surgery on me. Therefore, get the right, well-experienced, well-equipped people on state boards to govern the agencies that are responsible for supervising the sovereignty of the states,” Parsan said at the GIPEX conference yesterday, when he participated in a panel discussion on strategies to ensure successful transition during the “big boom.”
“Trinidad and Tobago had established the fund, and right now the fund sits at US5.5 billion. At one point, it was north of US$17 billion. The whole idea behind it is exactly what it means, heritage and stabilisation fund. The heritage part suggests the sovereignty and patrimony of the people. It belongs to the people of the country and for rainy days there’s savings. I would, however, caution any country with the intent of establishing such a fund to have the frameworks in place, the transparency and accountability in place, the measurements in place… it is not a slush fund nor is it an ATM,” he added.
He said Trinidad and Tobago had the political will to get the model right notwithstanding some challenges in the energy industry and issues of “agenda alignment”.
On Wednesday, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan announced that the NRF would soon be established, although it did not have required committees for governing and spending.
“We are excited that the oil is close. As a matter of fact, I am about to establish the national resource account to receive the royalties that we should get starting next month as long as the oil comes through,” he said
Asked about private sector participation, he said that he could not wait on it. “We are not waiting to hear from them, we have already invited them. As you can see, the world is still turning and we have to cater for our portion of the royalty and then profits, to make sure that we get that and safely keep it in the account, until it is ready to be activated,” he said.
Jordan said that the account is a regular account at the Bank of Guyana and when royalties go into it, spending will happen until after elections when required committees as set up.
“Post-election, we will be able to establish the committees and so on, and then they will take charge of the money and so,” he said.
Profit share monies, he explained, would not be had until after the first year. As I imagine, we will get that at the end of a first year. Remember, it is a profit share, so after the accounts are audited and so on,” he said.
