Govt. to beg for more money to fight COVID19

In terms of international financial assistance that is needed to address the unprecedented financial demands of fighting COVID19, the Government of Guyana is seeking support from multilateral institutions for a total amount of US$74 million. This includes a US$20 million budget support from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – Fund for International Development (OFIDI) along with several loans from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB).

Thus far, the IDB has provided Guyana with more than US$54M in loans to fight the COVID19 pandemic, with the most recent approval being for US$34M. According to the loan proposal perused by Kaieteur News, the government intends to use the majority of the funds to promote the availability and timely execution of financial, material, and public resources to respond to the effects of the health crisis caused by COVID19. To achieve this, the IDB noted that the government will implement in the first operation, the following policies regarding the availability of financial and material resources: establishment of the National COVID19 Task Force (NCTF) to enable interagency planning and coordination of pandemic preparedness and response actions; development and approval of the COVID19 Preparedness and Response Plan (P&RP) that covers prevention, preparation and response; and design and establish a webpage providing critical information relating to COVID19 (health and nonhealth responses) to target messaging to the population most vulnerable to the COVID19 pandemic.

Additionally, the policy measures to support the timely execution of public resources are: issue a directive to ensure necessary budgetary resources to undertake emergency measures related to the pandemic; use of the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) system to pay health sector workers; and establish a record of expenditure made for emergency from the Consolidated Fund to promote transparency.

The Bank was keen to note that it is in continuous communication with the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Caribbean Development Bank, the European Commission, Canada, and other partners concerning requests for support from Caribbean countries while exploring potential areas for collaboration.

(Kaieteur News)