The APNU+AFC Coalition remains silent about the depletion of Guyana’s reserves. Concerns about the use of state funds – more so in the 10 months since the passage of the no-confidence motion – have been heightened with the release of the most recent statistics by the Bank of Guyana, which detail the position of critical economic indicators.
RESERVES
In January 2019 the international reserves amounted to US$552.4 million, at the end of September 2019, the reserves declined by US$24 million to US$528.3 million. Gold reserves declined by $1,518 million to $620 million at the end of September 2019 from $2,138 million in December 2018. During the APNU-AFC four years as government, the reserves have been on a constant decline.
At the end of 2014 the International Reserves and Gold Reserves stood at US$652 million and $25,012 million respectively.
PUBLIC DEPOSITS
The Bank of Guyana’s public deposits overdraft position continues to widen. The deficit further widened by $3.5 billion from September to October. According to the Bank of Guyana’s statement of assets and liability as of October 23, 2019 the bank’s public deposits were listed at an overdraft of $69.1 billion.
In September 2019, the overdraft stood at $65.6 billion. The Public Deposit overdraft has widened by $10.7 billion from January 2019 to October 2019. At the end of January 2019, public deposits were recorded at an overdraft of $53.4 billion. At the end of 2015, the APNU-AFC government ended the year with an overdraft of $2.3 billion, and this continued to worsen over the four-year period.
This is from a positive position of $21.4 billion at the end of 2014. By 2016, the overdraft had grown to $21.3 billion, due to increasing withdrawals. At the end of the 2017 fiscal year, the overdraft had reached $26.5 billion.
CONTINGENCY RESERVES
Upon a further review of the statistics published by the Bank of Guyana, it was revealed that the Government has also depleted the Contingency Reserve. According to the Bank of Guyana’s statement of assets and liability as of October 23, the contingency reserve stood at $2.36 billion. This has been the level of contingency reserves from 2016. At the end of 2015, the Bank of Guyana recorded $5.18 billion, preceded by $4.77 billion and $4.33 billion in 2014 and 2013, respectively.
It must be noted that the contingency fund/ reserves is for the main purpose of emergencies.
BANK OF GUYANA’S ASSETS
Nine months after the passage of the no-confidence motion, there has been a decline of $3 billion in the total assets held by the Bank of Guyana from $220.3 billion in 2018 to $217.2 billion as at September 2019.
