Ministry of Finance debunks Kaieteur News story on ‘oil debt to Venezuela’

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.

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