Oil money earned in 2023 and used in 2024 budget could only finance two ministries – Attorney General

Jun 08, 2024 News

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C

Kaieteur News – The revenue Guyana received last year from oil exports and royalties was just about enough to fund the allocation for two ministries in the 2024 National Budget, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C, stated.

During his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News,’ the Attorney General discussed the extensive development that is occurring in Guyana. While the 2024 budget amounts to $1.1 trillion, less than 30% of this total is from the oil and gas sector. Notably, over $400 billion of this year’s budget is financed by non-oil revenues, with around $300 billion contributed to budget from the oil and gas sector.

Nandlall explained, “Look at what we have been able to achieve from revenue generated from this sector. We have not traveled the road that other countries have travelled of over dependency on the [oil and gas] sector. In fact, the backbone of our economic plan is one predicated upon diversification.”

He underscored that the government is aware that the agriculture sector is the country’s future and aims to avoid over-dependence on oil and gas. “So using proceeds from the oil and gas industry, we are creating a foundation in agriculture,” Nandlall noted.

The Attorney General believes Guyana serves as a model for development, citing the substantial progress made through infrastructural initiatives. However, he highlighted a common misconception, stating, “And a lot of people don’t understand that all of this money is not necessarily coming from oil. So we drew down last year about $300 billion from the oil and gas sector in revenue, that is what we took from the oil fund and put into the consolidated fund.”

Nandlall clarified that while Guyana’s developmental drive is progressing rapidly; the funding is not entirely sourced from oil revenues. Nandlall said, “Two of our ministries, two of our ministries, use up that money.”

He pointed out that the budget allocations for just two ministries nearly equate to the entire oil revenue from last year. This year, the Ministry of Education received $135.2 billion, the Ministry of Health $129.8 billion, and the Ministry of Agriculture $97.6 billion. Notably, the Ministry of Infrastructure’s allocation of $221.4 billion is almost equivalent to the $300 billion Guyana received last year from oil.

“…infrastructure and education and that is the oil money done right there and people don’t understand that. Two of those ministries, if you look at the budgetary allocation of two of those ministries, that would have used up all the revenue that we took from the Natural Resource Fund and put in the consolidated fund and withdrew,” Nandlall said.

Despite oil money being enough to fund only about two ministries, Nandlall highlighted that significant development is occurring across all sectors. This year, Guyana expects to receive approximately US$2.1 billion from oil exports and US$320 million from royalties.

• amounts, Anil Nandlall, Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Development, S.C.