Public debt up
Stabroek News
May 26, 2002
The public debt of Guyana at the end of 2000 stood at US$1.698 billion, of which the external component accounted for US$1.066 billion, Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran reported.
In Guyana dollar terms, the public debt is $315 billion, a $9.9 billion increase over 1999.
Goolsarran's report on the public accounts for 2000 said that in US dollar terms, the external debt decreased by US$18 million from US$1.084 billion to reach US$1.066 billion. But the internal debt climbed by $7 billion to reach $117.322 billion at the end of 2000. The movement in the external debt was a result of repayments totaling US$45.162 million, the disbursements of US$66.482 million of loans contracted and the movement in the exchange rate from US$1=$179.6 to $185.5583.
Expressed as a factor of current revenue, Goolsarran said the public debt was 7.12 times the current revenue, compared with a factor of 7.39 at the end of 1999 and 8.33 at the end of 1997.
His report to the National Assembly noted an increase of $3.049 billion in the repayment and servicing of the public debt as a result of increases in interest on both the internal and external components by $2.291 billion to reach $9.833 billion. Increases in principal repayment on both components were by $758 million to reach $6 billion in 2000. As a percentage of current revenue, repayment and servicing of the public debt in 2000 represented 36.52%, compared with 31% in 1999, 41.14% in 1998 and 54.15% in 1997.
The public debt of Guyana and the service of this debt is a direct charge on the Consolidated Fund.
Goolsarran also reported that the public debt register was not properly maintained as several entries were incompletely written up and he said the system was not in place for the monitoring of disbursements by funding agencies and for updating the disbursement column of the register. He said that the column was being written up from monthly statements from the loan creditors and found the register's format to be inadequate, as it did not provide for details of the loan repayment schedules.
"As a result, it is not possible to determine from the register whether loan repayments were being effected in accordance with the agreed schedules. This lack of adequate record keeping can result in inadvertent default on loan repayments and related financial penalties," Goolsarran said in his report.