Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service Dr Ashni Singh presented five external loan agreements to the National Assembly on Thursday.
These include agreements signed with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for US$30 million; the International Development Association (IDA) for US$35 million; a sovereign loan from Canada intermediated by the IDB for Cdn$120 million, the Bank of China for €160.85 million and UniCredit Bank Austria AG for €135 million.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Finance, the US$30 million from the IDB will finance the execution of a policy-based reform programme to support human services in Guyana. Under this loan, Singh said, the government will be implementing the digital transformation of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security; strengthening the senior citizens pension programme, empowering people living with disabilities and supporting gender empowerment, the release said. This agreement, Singh told the National Assembly, is in line with the government’s agenda to improve the delivery of services to pensioners and the well-being of people with disabilities.