Breakdown of NRF spending only done for emergencies – Jagdeo

Bharrat Jagdeo

-criticises Campbell’s arguments

Addressing recent criticisms on the structure of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that the only time a direct breakdown of funds spent will be given for withdrawals, is when a national emergency is activated, as provided for by the law.

Addressing criticisms about the lumping of NRF monies into the Consolidated Fund, and businessman Terrence Campbell’s assertions that the NRF Board is a rubber stamp, Jagdeo reiterated comparisons of the proposed NRF Law by the APNU+AFC government to the one put in place by the PPP/C.

“Somehow they are making it seem that the Board of Directors to manage the fund is less transparent than the minister having all the power,” he yesterday told a press conference he hosted at Freedom House, Georgetown.