Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh yesterday welcomed the new Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) General Manager for the Caribbean Country Department (CCB), Anton Edmunds and praised the Bank for its continued support to Guyana.
A release from the Ministry of Finance said that Singh met and held discussions with the IDB official during a courtesy call at the Ministry of Finance. Edmunds was accompanied by a team from the bank led by Lorena Solorzano-Salazar, IDB’s Resident Representative for Guyana.
During the meeting, the finance minister noted that the IDB has been a longstanding friend to Guyana over the years.
He also spoke of the increasing role the IDB has played in terms of not only continuously supporting investments in the public sector, but also now playing an increasing role in the private sector through IDB-Invest.
The release said that Edmunds reaffirmed the IDB’s commitment to Guyana, pointing out as well that the IDB-Invest’s success in the Caribbean is underpinned by the successful transactions it has executed in Guyana.
IDB-Invest has been upping its financial support to Guyana through loans to the private sector for various projects including in the transport, agri-business and tourism sectors.
Singh asserted that Government is laying the foundation for a strong and competitive non-oil economy to ensure that Guyana is not solely dependent on oil.
“We are using this period to make the strategic investments that are necessary to ensure that in the medium to longer term Guyana is not an economy that is solely dependent on oil,” Singh said, adding that this period is being used by Government “to invest in things like infrastructure to improve connectivity with our neighbours, increase the economic space in which we are operating, and therefore lay the foundation for more trade”, he said.
The Board of Directors of the IDB recently approved a new Country Strategy with Guyana for the period 2023-2026 focused on resilient infrastructure, human capital development, with an emphasis on improving health and education outcomes and social services, and strengthening institutional capacity.
