Guyana to Receive $23.4 Million IDB Loan

A loan agreement totaling $24.3 million was signed last week by Guyana’s Minister of Finance Ashni Singh and Resident Representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Sergio Varas Olea, which is part of the financing for the rehabilitation of the Transport Infrastructure Rehabilitation Program to which Government is contributing $2.7 million.

The entire cost of the program is $27 million and is aimed at promoting permanent accessibility and safety along the main national road network.

The loan with soft financing at one percent interest rate for the first 10 years and two percent thereafter and a repayment period of 40 years will be executed by the Ministry of Public Works and Communications.

The Finance Minister expressed appreciation to the IDB for the confidence it has placed in Guyana’s economy by approving the investment, noting that the maintenance of a stable macro-economic environment has enabled Guyana to receive the funding.

Specific objectives of the program will be the improvement of the road network reliability and driving conditions along the Timehri-Rosignol roadway by replacing or rehabilitating existing critical structures to accommodate wider culverts.

The project will represent a prototype which can be re-created elsewhere. He said Government is continuing to streamline the infrastructural base to ensure social progress.

This program will also contribute to the establishment and enhancement of the road and bridge linkages with Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname and, through these countries, the rest of South and Central America, to facilitate regional, national and international trade and commerce, cultural exchange and regional coherence.