Wealth fund requires consensus on fiscal, legal framework – expert

Eric Parrado

As Guyana prepares for a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) ahead of oil production in 2020, the former manager of one of the world’s most successful ones yesterday stressed the importance of full consensus by the society on its fiscal and legislative framework.

“If you pass the law, you can say ‘we are going to ring-fence the resources for the Guyanese people’ and we need that process now. We need to reach the consensus with the full society, then we need to pass the law—hopefully before 2020 because the revenues are coming in 2020, the temptation could be high and because you have an elections,” Eric Parrado said.

The International Finance Coordinator at Chile’s Ministry of Finance, who helped build that country’s SWF, was part of a seven-member group of international researchers and petroleum policy advisors that met with Cabinet ministers this week. The team discussed the emerging oil and gas sector and gave insights into prudent preparations for the revenues that will be generated from the industry.