Guyanese to be allowed to invest in cooking gas, fertiliser plants

Last Updated on Thursday, 10 April 2025, 23:44 by Writer

Guyanese would be allowed to invest in cooking gas and fertiliser production lines, as spinoffs from the gas-to-energy plants, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said,

He told a news conference that people would be allowed to invest in bonds “at a guaranteed interest rate” that would be “significantly higher” than commercial bank deposit rates. He explained that there could be a limit on the size of the investment to win more investors.

Alternatively, he said a share structure would have to be developed and included for persons to buy a limited number of shares in the entities to have wider participation. He added that more people would be encouraged to invest if government underwrites their investment and provides a given number as returns. He floated the idea of cutting the margin and reducing the cost, while allowing “small” Guyanese to benefit “in a real way”. “The dividend policy will be based on profits… but it will not fall below 10 percent and this is particularly for small people like the farmers, the teachers, the public servants, the small miners who want to invest,” he said.

Confident that the cooking gas, also known as liquid propane gas (LPG), would be a money spinner even at lower prices, Mr. Jagdeo said the bond issue would give everyday Guyanese the opportunity to have a stake in the entity. “We don’t want to give one man the ability to control this LPG or even the State,” he said.

With the Guyana market able to consume less than one-third of the LPG that would be produced here, he said the rest would be exported.

He said wealthier Guyanese, who want to invest in larger projects, would receive guaranteed access at a higher rate with the money used to develop public sector projects.

Similarly, he said Guyanese would be afforded the opportunity to invest in the fertiliser plant. “We are going to cherry-pick some activities out of the oil and gas sector that are lucrative and democratise the structure for investing in these,” he said. The Vice President sought to assure that foreign investors would not be excluded but the aim would be to include Guyanese. “We want to take the most lucrative opportunities and then allow widespread participation,” he added.