No account of GFC’s $4Billion surplus – Min. Teixeira

DPI, Guyana, Friday, August 7, 2020

The new PPP/C government, which was sworn in this week, has hit the ground running with getting the affairs of the country in order.

In a statement earlier today, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Hon. Gail Teixeira revealed that there is no account of what happened to the $4Billion surplus that was left in the coffers of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) when the PPP/C left office back in 2015.

There is also no account of how the commission has come to the point of bankruptcy over those years.

In this regard, Minister Teixeira made it clear that the PPP/C government will not make any apologies for bringing to the public’s attention the economic state of affairs of the country.

The Minister was at the time addressing comments made by former President David Granger earlier today. Granger condemned remarks made by the new Minister of Natural Resources (MNR), Hon. Vickram Bharrat about the bankrupt state of the GFC.

On Thursday, Minister Bharrat met with senior officials of the GFC where he was updated on the commission’s operations and economic standing.

Further, he was informed that the commission is currently unable to pay salaries for July and that it owes millions of dollars to the utility companies.

Minister Bharrat’s visit to the GFC was one of several made to agencies under the purview of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Commenting on the issue today, Minister Teixeira said when the PPP/C left government in 2015, the GFC had some $4Billion surplus. However, today it is bankrupt. There are also hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

“We are not going to be preached to by those whose record is low [and] up for examination,” she stated.