Govt. pays off GuySuCo’s $14B debt – AG report
Kaieteur News – The $14 billion loan secured from Hand in Hand Trust to aid the revitalisation of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has been fully repaid, according to the 2023 Auditor General’s Report.
The loan was guaranteed by the Government of Guyana (GoG) through an agreement between the Minister of Finance and Hand in Hand Trust Corporation Inc. on May 24, 2018. The funds were raised via National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Fixed Rate Bonds, specifically to support the revitalisation efforts of GuySuCo.
The report reveals that as of December 31, 2023, the amount of $14.08 billion had been repaid. It was stated that by the end of 2022, $9.68 billion of the loan had already been repaid. In 2023, the remaining $4.4 billion was paid off, clearing all outstanding balances.
According to reports, in March 2018, NICIL secured a $30 billion bond. It was announced back then by the ex-boss of NICIL, Colvin Heath-London, that the company was successful in securing a $30 billion (US$150M) syndicated bond to revitalise GuySuCo. Kaieteur News had reported that NICIL had used its assets as collateral to secure the amount from the lender. NICIL had disclosed in 2018 that the facilitator of the bond arrangement is the Republic Bank Limited (RBL) of Trinidad.
