VENEZUELA will not be renewing its oil for rice barter under the PetroCaribe deal which will come to an end on November 16 next, according to Finance Minister Winston Jordan after his recent trip to the Bolivarian Republic.But Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, while noting recent developments between Guyana and Venezuela over the territorial issue, is saying that Venezuela had long indicated to the former

People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government that it will be withdrawing from the agreement.

“There is documentary evidence that Venezuela’s decision was communicated to former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Leslie Ramsammy; former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; and Guyana’s Ambassador in Caracas, Geoffrey Da Silva,” the Prime Minister noted in a post from his Office’s official Facebook page yesterday.

While President Granger addressed the National Assembly yesterday regarding the Venezuela/Guyana border issue, the Prime Minister is concerned that the former Administration, which departed office following their defeat at the May 11 polls, did not inform the country of the decision, which could have far-reaching implications on the country’s vital rice sector.
SAD AND INEXCUSABLE
“It is sad and inexcusable that the Guyanese people were not advised of this by the former PPP Government,” the PM’s post read. “Questions will now have to be asked as to whether the Guyanese people, and the thousands of rice farmers, in particular, who could be affected, were being held hostage by the PPP’s silence purely for the purposes of narrow politicking.”
“Further, this revelation comes on the heels of Venezuela’s actions to challenge what is lawfully Guyana’s territory, and it will have to be considered whether Venezuela’s position of the non-renewal of the Petro Caribe barter agreement is indeed an act of economic sanction against Guyana,” Mr Nagamootoo continued.
According to the ‘online post’ from the Office of the Prime Minister, the Guyana Government will explore the options of ensuring there is no adverse effect to rice farmers and other stakeholders in the sector.

“The rice barter agreement will come to an end in November,” Finance Minister Winston Jordan said in an invited comment from this publication yesterday. Jordan noted, too, his uncertainty as to whether the end of the contract could arrive sooner than November.
The Finance Minister Jordan attended the 11th Meeting of the PETROCARIBE Ministerial Council in June, with a delegation, which included representatives of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
The contract, informally dubbed the ‘Rice-for-Oil’ Agreement, saw Guyana providing rice to Venezuela, which decreased Guyana’s payment to Venezuela for oil coming from that petroleum-rich country.
While Prime Minister Nagamootoo indicated that Government is considering whether the recent developments in the Guyana/Venezuela border issue could have caused this posture from the Venezuelan Government, the Finance Minister recounted that the Venezuelans had signalled their intentions since 2014 on numerous occasions.
The Finance Minister also met with Venezuelan officials in the Government and the state-owned Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA) oil and gas company. “We put forward our case [and] again they reiterated they wanted no more rice from Guyana.”

FINDING NEW MARKETS

Jordan said the Venezuelan authorities then indicated their willingness to receive small amounts of rice from Guyana “as buffer stocks.” Meanwhile, the Finance Minister said the Government is

considering new markets for Guyana’s rice.

Guyana is currently indebted to Venezuela in the tune of US$190M. “Without the rice for barter,” the Finance Minister told the Chronicle, “we revert to what we originally had, which is long-term payment of the debt.”

Jordan anticipates a reduction of Guyana’s debt to Venezuela of some US$45M, in a similar arrangement to the debt write-offs of over US$110M in 2014. (Derwayne Wills)