The World Bank
   Guyana Payments System Project (P159512)




                                                                                       REPORT NO.: RES45720

                                   DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK




                                       RESTRUCTURING PAPER
                                                ON A
                                 PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING

                                                    OF

                                GUYANA PAYMENTS SYSTEM PROJECT
                                   APPROVED ON MARCH 31, 2017
                                                    TO

                                CO-OPERATIVE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA


FINANCE, COMPETITIVENESS AND INNOVATION

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN




                         Regional Vice President:    Carlos Felipe Jaramillo
                               Country Director:     Tahseen Sayed Khan
                               Regional Director:    Robert R. Taliercio
                     Practice Manager/Manager:       Yira J. Mascaro
                            Task Team Leader(s):     Daniel Ortiz del Salto, Patricia Caraballo
           The World Bank
           Guyana Payments System Project (P159512)



I. BASIC DATA

Product Information

Project ID                                                     Financing Instrument
P159512                                                        Investment Project Financing

Original EA Category                                           Current EA Category
Not Required (C)                                               Not Required (C)

Approval Date                                                  Current Closing Date
31-Mar-2017                                                    31-Mar-2021




Organizations

Borrower                                                       Responsible Agency
Co-operative Republic of Guyana                                Bank of Guyana




Project Development Objective (PDO)
Original PDO
The project development objective is to improve Guyana's national payments system by enhancing safety and
efficiency of payments.
Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions)


                                                                                       Net
Ln/Cr/Tf                 Approval         Signing Effectiveness         Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed

IDA-59660            31-Mar-2017    22-Jun-2017     08-Sep-2017 31-Mar-2021              6.00   1.94        4.42


Policy Waiver(s)

Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)?
No


I. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES
           The World Bank
           Guyana Payments System Project (P159512)




 Project Status: The Project is on a sustained path to achieving its Project Development Objective (PDO) of improving
 Guyana's national payments system by enhancing safety and efficiency of payments. The project is rated Moderately
 Satisfactory at the time of this restructuring. There is no outstanding audit reports and all audit reports have been
 considered satisfactory to the Bank. The PDO continues to be fully aligned with the country's development priorities.
 However, due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Project experienced some delays that
 impacted its implementation pace. For instance, the international firms supporting the Bank of Guyana (BoG) could
 not conduct planned technical visits for the installation of the payments system infrastructure, the Real-Time Gross
 Settlement System (RTGS) and the Centralized Securities Depository (CSD). The Project also experienced some delays
 in delivery of some of IT equipment brought from abroad for installation. Further, planned capacity building activities
 for BoG staff were delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions. While these challenges impacted the implementation pace,
 the BoG has made remarkable progress on the main activities during 2020 (installation and deployment of Hardware
 and Software of the RTGS and the CSD), which will be completed by March 2021.

 Proposed Changes: Authorities have requested a 6-month extension of the project closing date. An extension is
 required to (i) allow for technical support by the WB team to the BoG in testing and monitoring the functionality of the
 new system, once deployed and (ii) monitoring the implementation of the capacity building activities to strengthen
 the payment systems unit after the new payments system infrastructure is operational.




II. DETAILED CHANGES


LOAN CLOSING DATE(S)


                                        Original                 Revised                Proposed      Proposed Deadline
Ln/Cr/Tf        Status                  Closing                Closing(s)                 Closing        for Withdrawal
                                                                                                            Applications
IDA-59660       Effective          31-Mar-2021                                       30-Sep-2021              30-Jan-2022