Stabroek News
July 7, 2001

Guyana's public debt increased by $2.751 billion in 1999 even as its external debt burden was reduced by $8 billion.

Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, reported that the internal debt of the country increased by $11 billion over 1998.

Guyana's public debt stood at $305 billion at the end of 1998, equivalent to US$1.69 billion and representing 7.39 times the current revenue.

Of this, the external debt was $194.6 billion, compared with $202.9 billion at the end of 1998. The decrease was mainly due to repayments of US$155 million, disbursements totalling US$9 million and the movement of the exchange rate from US$1=$165.9 to US$1=$179.6.

The internal debt, however, moved from $99.4 billion to $110.4 billion at the end of 1999. Of this, treasury bills accounted for $34 billion of the local debt.

The government is prevented by the Constitution from raising loans outside Guyana exceeding $400 billion and is required to lay all agreements relating to such loans in the National Assembly.

However, Goolsarran said seven new external loans were entered into in 1999 and disbursements totalling $1.7 billion made but up to the time of his report, these had not been tabled in the National Assembly. He made a similar observation in 1998 regarding six loans.

The public debt system provides for the Accountant General to maintain a register of the public debt, and at the end of the year, for him to prepare and submit a statement for audit examination and certification. However, the Debt Management Unit within the Ministry of Finance has been found to duplicate the work of the public debt section of the Accountant General's office, Goolsarran said in his report. He again called for the Debt Management Unit to be placed under the Accountant General.

He found evidence of the public debt register not being properly maintained, as entries were not adequately written up. Goolsarran said that there was no system in place to monitor the disbursements of finances from donor agencies and for updating the disbursement column of the register. This column, he said, was being written up from confirmations from loan creditors.

The format of the register, he also said, was inadequate, as it did not provide for details of loan repayment schedules. As such, he said, it was not possible to determine whether loan repayments were being effected in accordance with the agreed schedules and this could result in an inadvertent default on loan repayments thereby incurring financial penalties.