H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – Exim’s US$2B: what’s up with that?

Dec 21, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – It was nestled in a cozy corner of page 16 of Saturday’s edition of SN under the terse caption “Singh meets US EXIM VP” (SN, December 16, 2023).  I took in stride the single narrow column of 17 wizened lines, and understood that Venezuela and St. Vincent may have overwhelmed a development with the significance of something like this.  Meaning that there was no choice but to quietly tuck it away in a corner, almost as an afterthought.  In the context of the blur and whir of the Wales gas-to-energy project, it was almost like a death announcement.  Still, I picked up a couple of things, have a thought or two that may embarrass some big people.  But, as usual, I must carry on.

For starters, it is good to see Dr. Ashni Singh, the man over the money, involved with the US people about the money.  Given a man of the prowess of Dr. Singh, a former Guyana scholar, it is a certainty that he handled himself with some finesse, even flair.  Interestingly, the bigger guns than Dr. Singh (and he is no pistol himself) saw it fit to take a back seat, leaving the good doctor to preside over the US$2 billion development from his fiefdom at Finance.  Why did the man with a universal portfolio take himself out of the picture?  Maybe it was to give himself some cushion with his Chinese friends, about why they are not getting the US$2 billion business.  It could be that that man Maduro has to be watched; or the finishing touches put on that Venezuelan vote that is so coveted.

Next, I notice that that US$2 billion EXIM understanding of a loan is now almost eighteen months old.  What’s up with that, already?  By any banking standards, that is a stale check, an expired Memorandum of Understanding.  It is either that the original memorandum has to be reworked, or that the part about ‘understanding’ needs some refurbishing.  In civil circles, this is called a clearer, better meeting of the minds.  They had better hurry to find some sweet spot beyond the gentleman’s agreement of a MoU, for the gas-to-energy affair at Wales is galloping forward on adrenaline and steroids.  What is holding it up after those bright smiles and bonhomie of Blinken, Ali, and Jagdeo, all fine fellows.  Don’t tell me that was forced for the photo op.  Somehow, I get the impression that this US$2 billion loan ‘promise’ by the Americans is going around in circles.  The winds blowing from the Far East may have something to do with that state.

Permit me a moment of mischief: why then is US$2 billion going from month to month without being credited to Guyana’s account, and with the Government of Guyana most keenly interested to put their neat little paws on those crisp Yankee greenbacks?  What is it that David Sena of the US EXIM could be labouring so hard over, had to leave the snows of Washington to come to Georgetown?  What conditions (likely new) have come into play, and which the US is making sure is laid out to the letter?  The MoU for the loan still stands, or it doesn’t.  C’mon, let’s get a move on, will we?  The borrower seriously wants it, and the creditor did sign-on to the idea, so what’s the holdup, folks?  The Chinese are waiting, and they are neither fussy about conditions for loans extended, nor squeamish about how the loans are spent.  So, to cry out like Marvin Gaye: ‘what’s going on?’

Dr. Singh definitely has some answers to these questions, but he is not known to being responsible for any sunken vessels.  Not a veteran Lodge man of his caliber.  Who would have imagined this: Guyana going a week, then two, without a broadside against Exxon, or a sortie aimed at Mr. Alistair Routledge, or a hostile word against the PPP Government and its errant luminaries?  Why even Bharrat Jagdeo erected a stage for himself to demonstrate how much of a statesman and patriot he is.  It has been a lean season for those who have what it takes to make him do his best Little Richard imitation.  Maduro and his roiling referendum took care of all of that fancy business, and it has not been fun.  In one fell swoop, Nicolás Maduro Moros directed all attention at himself, and all the others in the Guyana environment got an early and extended Christmas.  Now there is Dr. Ashni Singh holding the equivalent of secret and shaky talks with EXIM’s David Sena about a US$2 billion revolving line, which has seemingly run out of gas.  No sire, it is not revolving at all, and I wonder what line Dr. Singh is going to come up with for his fellow Guyanese.  Those with inquiring minds want to know.  I do, so tell us Dr. Singh.  There is so much that Guyanese need to know about this Wales gas-to-energy caper.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• Dr. Ashni Singh, GHK Lall, H@rd Truths, US EXIM VP, Wales gas-to-energy project

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