The importance of sound public debt management was emphasised by the
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon during his post-Cabinet press
briefing today.
Minister Harmon was responding to questions regarding the supervision
of Guyana’s public debts in light of recently signed loan agreements.
The State Minister assured that the country’s public debts are well
managed by the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan,
“…our minister is a very careful person and he will not sign any
agreement or sign any document which adds to our public debt without
some form of an action plan on how we are going to deal with it.”
Minister Harmon reiterated that that, prior to the Minister of Finance
signing any new loan agreement, these matters would ‘have gone through
several deliberations before ratification. “The minister does not go
out on his own and sign these documents. They are a subject of
deliberations before the cabinet”, Minister Harmon underscored.
On September 22, Guyana signed two agreements with China for the
upgrading of education and health networks, and funding for the Public
Service College. Minister Harmon explained that the loan amounts to
about $7.9Billion (US$38Million).
Additionally, on September 19, an agreement was signed Jeddah, Saudi
Arabia between Minister of Finance Winston Jordan and the Islamic
Development Bank’s (IsDB) Vice President of Sector Operations, Mansur
Muhtar. This agreement will support the improvement of the country’s
power supply through the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL).
The $4.2Billion (US$20Million) loan is part of the utility company’s
Upgrade Programme, a component of its development and Expansion
Programme for 2014 to 2021.
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