President’s office says ‘inaccurate’ foreign aid tied to elections results

The President’s office on Saturday morning said it is “inaccurate” that international financial institutions may be unwilling to provide aid to Guyana to fight the COVID’-19.

These statements were made by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

“We cannot for sure say whether some of these international multilateral lending agencies are going to be dealing with Guyana’s applications (for aid) any time soon.

“…They probably would want to sit it out and wait until the President is sworn in,” Nagamotoo said on Thursday during a press conference.

But the President’s office Saturday said: “that suggestion is inaccurate.”

In an earlier release, the President’s office had announced Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon will lead the operations of the National Covid-19 Task Force as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and he would be the one to provide “accurate information.”

“The Ministry wishes to make it clear that no international or financial institution has linked support to the Guyana’s national COVID-19 campaign to the outcome of the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections,” the President’s office stated.

The President’s office said Guyana remains engaged with several of its partners and that it was only on Thursday, April 23, 2020, that the United States of America (USA) announced that financial aid to the tune of US$475,000 will be provided to help address Guyana’s priority areas in its fight against COVID-19.

“No international financial institution has indicated that financial aid has been made conditional upon the completion of the electoral process,” the President’s office stated.