THE Ministry of Finance has said that the Kaieteur story of July 3, 2015 headlined “Guyana’s long term oil debt to Venezuela at US$580m – Report”, regarding Guyana’s debt to Venezuela is “clearly incorrect and grossly overstated.”The Kaieteur News story cited a report in Venezuela’s El Diario Nacional of July 2, 2015 which stated that Guyana’s “Long-term” debt with Venezuela under PetroCaribe was about US$580 million.
However, the Ministry of Finance in a release said that “as at March 31, 2015, Guyana’s total debt to Venezuela was about US$194 million. This debt would be reduced further by another US$45 million shortly when the Debt Compensation Agreement with Venezuela is signed. This Debt Compensation Agreement relates to rice and paddy shipped by Guyana to Venezuela under a Rice Trade Agreement done within the framework of the PetroCaribe arrangement.”
The Finance Ministry said further that so far, Guyana has repaid more than US$550 million of the debt to Venezuela through the rice trade arrangement.
Ministry of Finance debunks Kaieteur News story on ‘oil debt to Venezuela’
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