Govt. to beg for more money to fight COVID-19

In terms of international financial assistance that is needed to address the unprecedented financial demands of fighting COVID-19, 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 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Thus far, the IDB has provided Guyana with more than US$54M in loans to fight the COVID-19 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 COVID-19.

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 COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) to enable inter-agency planning and coordination of pandemic preparedness and response actions; development and approval of the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan (P&RP) that covers prevention, preparation and response; and design and establish a webpage providing critical information relating to COVID-19 (health and non-health responses) to target messaging to the population most vulnerable to the COVID-19 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.

In Guyana, the financial institution noted that development partners, including bilateral donors, meet monthly for a Donor Coordination meeting to discuss and coordinate work in the country and in the response to the current pandemic. During the preparation of the latest loan proposal for Guyana, the IDB said it consulted with the IMF, the WB and the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Technical Assistance in order to share information and coordinate technical programme support in the country in several areas. These included public financial management; public investment; public procurement; and (iv) macro fiscal management, in order to avoid duplication of efforts.