– Guyana owed US$194M at March 31The Government of Guyana has denied a report in Venezuela news which put this country’s oil debts at a staggering US$580M.Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance made it clear that the statement earlier this week regarding Guyana’s debt to Venezuela is clearly incorrect and grossly overstated.Guyana has disputed reports in Venezuela that it owes that country US$580M for oil taken under the PetroCaribe arrangements.Rather, as at March 31,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, 2015, Guyana’s total debt to Venezuela was about US$194M.According to the Ministry, this debt would be reduced further by another US$45M shortly, when the Debt Compensation Agreement with Venezuela is signed.The Debt Compensation Agreement, the Ministry explains, relates to rice and paddy shipped by Guyana to Venezuela under a trade agreement done within the framework of the PetroCaribe arrangement.So far, Guyana has repaid more than US$550 million of the debt to Venezuela through the rice trade arrangement.Earlier this week, Venezuela’s online newspaper, the ‘El Nacional’ carried a story which said that Guyana’s “long-term” debt with that country under PetroCaribe was about US$580 million.The report would come as Guyana is fighting off a claim by Venezuela on its lands and sea.President David Granger on Thursday afternoon called on Caribbean leaders to come out strongly against Venezuela for its aggression.That country in May published maps which included parts of the Atlantic Ocean under the jurisdiction of Guyana as belonging to Venezuela, sparking tensions and threats of military response by that neighbour.Parts of the Atlantic Ocean being claimed include an area which was successfully drilled for oil by US-owned ExxonMobil,Cheap NHL Jerseys China, a company that was under licence by Guyana. There are questions now over the timing of the El Nacional report.The arrangements of the oil deal has proven a boon to many of the PetroCaribe countries, but the Venezuela government has been facing growing internal pressure to adjust what the Opposition described as being too generous.“The benefit has been solely political. PetroCaribe has allowed the government to be shielded from international bodies such as the Organization of American States,Jerseys China Wholesale, for instance. It maintains a financial relationship with a number of benefits to other countries and that helps you get votes when needed,”said Economist and University Professor Luis Oliveros.Oliveros’s calculations, based on data from Petroleos de Venezuela, detailed that between 2006 and 2014 the country sent an average of 186,000 barrels of oil per day through PetroCaribe,Wholesale Jerseys China, an amount that has been declining in the past two years.The bill for oil sold to these countries is nearly US$50B but not all the money has been collected. According to Oliveros, Venezuela is owed nearly US$30B dollars for shipments made under the arrangements.Under the PetroCaribe arrangement, which is adjusted in relation to oil prices, financing can be up to 80% of the total payable within a period of 25 years with an interest rate of between one percent and two percent, with a two-year grace.In addition,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, the part of the bill to be paid in cash has not been canceled only with cash. Several countries are paying in rice,jerseys cheap nfl, spice, coffee and other products.According to the El Nacional report, one of the beneficiaries of the PetroCaribe agreement is Guyana, which is currently also facing claims by Venezuela for parts of the Essequibo county and its fishing waters.The border claims were recently revived after explorations by US-owned ExxonMobil, which found significant evidence of oil and which potentially holds up to 1.5 billion barrels of oil, according to Governance Minister Raphael Trotman, who is responsible for natural resources.Guyana has been paying Venezuela in rice and cash for the oil supplies.
