Guyana prioritising development before investing oil funds – Bharrat

Although a Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Investment Committee is already in place, the Guyana Government is not yet ready to invest funds held in the account, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat has said.

Speaking on Thursday during The Guyana Dialogue programme, Bharrat acknowledged that investing NRF funds has been a successful strategy in other oil-rich countries but suggested that Guyana is not yet in a position to follow suit.

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“A lot of countries like Norway and other countries that have been producing oil for a very long time and would have utilised the resources from the sector to basically build out their country in terms of infrastructure, education, healthcare, they are in a position now where they use the revenue from the Natural Resources Fund or the Sovereign Wealth Fund to invest into projects, whether it’s in Norway or internationally, it is one way of making money, using the funds, rather than just having it sit there,” the Minister explained.