NICIL disburses $250 million to Guysuco under syndicated bond

The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) on Wednesday credited Guysuco’s account with G$250,000,000.
This sum represents a partial response from NICIL to Guysuco’s request to government for a ‘bailout,’ and brings the total disbursements to Guysuco from July 2018 to date to $9,970,759,568; in addition to the close to $40 billion it has received from the government.
“NICIL wishes to remind Guysuco that it should seek to resolve its financial challenges through professional engagements with NICIL and by extension the Government, rather than resort to petty disclosures and half-truths in the press, none of which is providing the solutions to its myriad of problems,” NICIL said in a statement. “We strongly advise the Directors of Guysuco to obey the terms and conditions of the bond and to seek to ensure compliance with same. In particular, we urge that it honours the reporting of its expenditure schedule to NICIL and the bond holders. NICIL will in the very near future make available a further G$750,000,000. This disbursement can only be possible when NICIL and Guysuco can engage in solutions-driven discussions about making Guysuco a commercially viable entity. We look forward to those discussions, and to reiterate our commitment to protecting the livelihood of Guysuco’s employees and the industry.”
GuySuCo back in June had written President David Granger notifying him that the corporation had exhausted its finances. In the letter to the President Chairman of GuySuCo’s Board of Directors, John Dow said the sugar corporation was in a “dire financial crisis” with billions in debt, and insufficient finances to execute critical factory maintenance. “Despite improvements in the productivity of cane, GuySuCo’s sugar production for the last two crops has fallen short of expectations and the current COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problems experienced in meeting the 1st Crop 2020 production targets…As a result of the cash generated from operations cannot meet the outgoings particularly when external funding has been difficult to obtain,” Dow said.