THE private sector is expected to be given a role in the management of the Sovereign Wealth Fund when it is established as the administration looks to ensure maximum accountability of the proceeds.Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman, who also has responsibility for national patrimony, said such funds are better managed by government in partnership with the private sector, and not government alone.
With optimism high of oil and gas production in Guyana being inevitable, the government has placed this ‘emerging’ sector on top of its agenda.

And it has good reasons to so do. BloombergBusiness in July had reported that the ExxonMobil Corporation discovery off the coast of Guyana earlier this year may hold oil and natural gas worth 12 times this country’s entire economic output.
The Liza-1 well, which probably holds the equivalent of more than 700 million barrels of oil, may begin pumping crude in as few as five years, the U.S. publication had said.
“The prospect would be on par with a recent Exxon find at the Hadrian formation in the Gulf of Mexico, and would be worth about US$40 billion at today’s international crude price,” the report said.
On the news of the discovery, then Opposition Leader, now President David Granger had promised the establishment of a Sovereign Wealth Fund so that all Guyanese can benefit from the wealth.
Such funds, which are implemented mostly by oil rich nations, are used for, among others, to stabilise their economies in times crisis, improve standard of living of future generations and push infrastructural development.
Mr Trotman, who appeared yesterday before the Sectorial Committee on Natural Resources chaired by PPP Member of Parliament (MP) Odinga Lumumba, said the administration is currently working out the modalities of the fund.
OTHER INDUSTRIES
But, he said, there is a view that the fund should not include only the monies from the oil, but also a per cent of the earnings from gold, diamond, bauxite, timber, sand, and water, which in time will become a scarce commodity.
The Minister informed the committee that the Parliament will be kept abreast on the development of the fund, and the Opposition will be invited to be part of the discussions on how the fund will work.
“The fund will be accompanied by legislation. Parliament will help in the design of the way the fund is organised. The issue in not really the addition to the fund, but the subtraction, and on what basis or bases deductions should be made.
“This is one that both government and opposition will have to sit and work out as we are looking to the future and we know that in the future that there are going to be changes in government and so it is best if we together determine how and when this fund is going to be accessed,” he said.
In the meantime, Guyana, Mr Trotman said has received offers of support from several local and international agencies, and it has been looking at the experiences of oil producing nations throughout the world.
These, he told the committee include “the good, the bad and the ugly”, because at the end of the day, the government wants to put in place a “transparent and nationally acceptable framework” for the management of the wealth fund.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resource is also working to have Guyana enlisted as a member of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative and the Open Government Partnership.
Again, Mr Trotman emphasised that the goal in forging partnerships is to ensure proper transparency and accountability in the natural resources sector.
“People will know how much is earned, where it is going and how it is being spent,” he said in his presentation to the committee.

By Tajeram Mohabir