— to cover wages and salaries for employees

GUYANA’S sugar industry has been ‘drowning’ in debt for years, but the new government, in an effort to keep the industry afloat, has agreed to inject $600 million into the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
The new People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government, upon being elected to office early this month, was met with a plea for help from GuySuCo, which, at the time, had requested $1.6 billion to offset expenses and practically survive for the rest of the year.

Government, in response to this plea, has agreed to grant the bailout, which will go towards wages and salaries for employees.
In a letter to former President, David Granger, in May, Chairman of GuySuCo, John Dow, had said the sugar corporation was in a “dire financial crisis” with billions in debt, and insufficient finances to execute critical factory maintenance.

“Despite improvements in the productivity of cane, GuySuCo’s sugar production for the last two crops has fallen short of expectations and the current COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problems experienced in meeting the first-crop 2020 production targets…. As a result, the cash generated from operations cannot meet the ‘outgoings’, particularly when external funding has been difficult to obtain,” Dow said as he painted a vivid picture of the financial challenges facing the sugar industry.

At the time of the complaint, GuySuCo was only able to offset labour and fuel expenses. The corporation’s financial department had estimated that it would be out of cash by the second week of June.
With its “back against the wall”, GuySuCo had turned to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) for a “bailout” of $1 billion but only received $550 million.

“The APNU+AFC Government, through NICIL, undertook a loan of $30 billion under the guise of assisting the Corporation. To date, only $10.2 billion was made available to GuySuCo. The board received no answer as to how much was actually disbursed to NICIL and plans on repayment of the loan. To date, the corporation has a total liability of approximately $9.5 billion,” Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha, lamented in a recent report.
He told this publication that the request for a bailout had reached the new administration, but moved from $1 billion to $1.6 billion.
Although government was unable to grant the full sum at this time, Mustapha told the Department of Public Information (DPI), on Sunday, that the move to inject $600 million into GuySuCo was in keeping with the PPP/C’s commitment to resuscitate the sugar industry.
The minister confirmed that the sum was among others approved by Cabinet and has received the green light by President Irfaan Ali and Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo.
GuySuCo, despite being in line for the bailout, will have to be prudent in its management because a study had found that $120 million is required weekly to fulfill the payment of salaries.

REOPENING
In addition, as part of its capital work, GuySuCo will be required to submit a report which will take into consideration the re-opening of closed sugar estates, said Mustapha.
It was reported that Guyana’s sugar industry has been considered a liability for years, with a poor financial standing and low productivity, but the new PPP/C administration is hoping to “lift the industry from the ashes”.

In 2017, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government had announced the closure of several sugar estates across the country, leaving thousands of those employed without a job or source of income. Without alternative measures in place, many of the sugar workers struggled to provide for their families.
President Ali, however, pledged the PPP/C Government’s commitment to ensuring the livelihoods of the sugar workers are rebuilt.
“The upliftment of those families and the rebuilding of the sugar industry are as strong as it was when we promised. I assure you that we will work assiduously, at not only securing these lives and livelihood for them; we will work hard at creating new opportunities on advancing new opportunities to fulfill the promises we would have made in our manifesto,” the Head of State remarked.

The sustainable management of the sugar industry has always been a priority for the PPP/C administration. Moreover, the PPP/C has stood in solidary with its workers when several estates were shut without warning.
“On this point, the workers of this country – the bedrock of our nation – have been made to suffer untold hardship. Once proud men, who worked in the sugar industry from sun-up to sundown, never complaining about the back-breaking nature of their jobs, are today barely scratching a living,” President Ali said in his inaugural speech.
MMA-ADA
Meanwhile, the Department of Information (DPI) has reported that Cabinet has also approved $90 million for immediate infrastructural works which are expected to begin at the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary-Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) Scheme following a proposal by Minister Mustapha.
On August 15, Minister Mustapha, along with a team from several agriculture agencies visited the Mahaica-Berbice district, where he engaged several farmers. While there, the minister learnt about the dilapidated state employees are forced to endure. The minister also referred to concerns raised by farmers that despite the previous government instituting steep increases in land rentals, no proper infrastructural work was done to help alleviate their plight.