Gov't expends $2.9 B from Contingency Fund

The National Assembly on Monday passed contingency fund advances to the tune of $2,904,841,406 after a series of questions by the opposition.

Presenting Financial Paper No. 2 of 2022, which covered expenses from August 15, 2022 to November 29, 2022, was Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh.

A current estimate of $1.7 billion was sought and approved for additional resources to support the Linden Electricity Company, while $54.1 million was approved for the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs for the provision of additional resources to host the 2022 National Toshaos Council Conference and the 2022 Amerindian Heritage Games.

Under the Ministry of Agriculture, a whopping $740,156,388 in capital estimates was approved for additional resources to effect urgent drainage works, including the rehabilitation of drainage channels, access bridges and revetments. The sum is also for the installation of stainless steel sluice doors in Regions 2 to 7.

During the consideration of the 2022 budget estimates, $4.1 billion was approved for the provision of such services for the year.

Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Ministry also received $360 million for the payment of issuance fee for forest carbon credits, under the ART TREES programme for the year 2016 to 2020.

The capital estimate of $50.5 million was also approved in the House for the Ministry of Home Affairs to support the Guyana Forensic Laboratory for the procurement of a DNA analysis workflow system.

This is in addition to the $35 million passed in budget 2022 for the procurement of office equipment and furniture.

The sum was approved to cover the spending from the Contingency Fund.

Money from the contingency fund is used for unforeseen expenses; not catered for in the National Budget.

Government can tap into this fund prior to parliamentary approval, unlike using money from the Consolidated Fund which mandates the approval of the National Assembly before use.