Over $1 billion is owed by the Panamanian government to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) for rice sold to that country and newly appointed Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha has committed his ministry to acting immediately to ensure the outstanding payment is made.
Mustapha, while giving an overview on Tuesday of the state of affairs the PPP/C government inherited from the APNU+AFC administration with regard to the Ministry of Agriculture, said that initial checks have revealed a delay in payments of $1,184,198,400.
He noted that this large outstanding sum can adversely affect millers if the payments are not made soon.