GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Chronicle – GUYANA’s debt accrued under the Petrocaribe arrangement with Venezuela is sustainable and the reported impending increase in interest rates being charged under that credit facility is no cause for serious concern, according to a top Bank of Guyana official. On Monday, Platts, an energy and petrochemicals information provider, quoted an unnamed source with Venezuela’s state owned oil company PDVSA as saying that from October, the Venezuelan government would be increasing the interest rate it charges to finance oil purchases by Central American and Caribbean countries. According to Platts’ source, as a result of higher administrative and maintenance costs related to the loans, the annual rates are set to rise from the 1 – 2 percent range to 2 – 4 percent. “Our Petrocaribe debt is constantly being reduced as we make payments in the form of paddy and rice,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Guyana Chronicle, adding: “We don’t have much in terms of debt [to] Petrocaribe.”
