TO date, both the Opposition and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) have not put forward their nominees for the Committees of Guyana’s Natural Resource Fund (NRF) set to manage the use of Guyana’s pending oil revenues.

Added to this, even as the Government continues to provide public services in its ‘interim’ mode until new elections, full implementation of the NRF will remain out of reach until Parliament is reconvened.

Speaking to the media on Monday evening, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan stated that this means that should revenue flow begin from production in 2020 and these necessities be absent, all revenues collected will remained untouched in an account governed by the law in place.

The Public Accountability and Oversight 22-member Committee, is made up of a broad cross-section of society and is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the compliance of the Government and others with the provisions of this NRF Act.

It will also provide independent assessment of the management of the Fund and utilisation of withdrawals from the Fund; ensure that the Fund is managed in accordance with the principles of transparency, good governance and international best practices and facilitate public consultations on the management of the Fund and utilisation of withdrawals.

Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition is also expected to name a nominee for the six-member Investment Committee of the NRF.

“Going forward, what will happen, if we can’t get the Committee set up, we will open the account; the account will be governed by the law that is in place; it will receive the monies so to speak and it will be parked there until we can get a Parliament going because Parliament is heavily involved in the withdrawal process from the Natural Resource Fund,” Jordan said on the sidelines of the commemorative reception of the Liza Destiny’s arrival.

Jordan reminded that the government, even as it awaits new elections, has sought to move the process forward as far as possible ahead of 2020.

The Ministry of Finance has contacted the Opposition and PSC regarding their nominees but has thus far only received an apology from the latter.

“They [the Private Sector Commission] have merely written me a letter saying that they’re sorry they didn’t respond earlier but they haven’t come forward with their nominees…all they said is that they’re sorry they didn’t reply earlier; that they were transitioning management team and will reply to me when they work on it,” Jordan said.

Jordan stated that the government has carried the NRF as far as it possibly can and is now at the point whereby a seminar with all relevant stakeholders will be held in a few weeks to ensure the Oversight Committee is functional before ‘first oil’.

He also noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in Guyana providing technical support with additional help to come from Ghana.

However, he acknowledged: “We have to gauge the climate for this and we also have to consider the reactions of some of the people who are supposed to be appointed to the Committee.”

“In the meanwhile, what we have to be doing is putting together the various ideas in the budget and then to see when we can get the budget out based on when it is elections and how much funding [from the NRF] can actually take place during next year because… don’t forget, monies will accumulate very slowly in the NRF,” he said.

“Post 2020, especially when its racked up to Liza 2 and the other discoveries and we start extracting that is when we’ll really be talking serious money and that is when we can really think about all the major projects that we have.”