By LCN Business Desk
The fund publishes one page a month, and nine of them now cover the year.
With the September report, the fund has published a statement for every month of 2026 so far. Set end to end, the nine show what came in, what went out, and what the balance earned. The opening and closing balances reconcile against the flows exactly, to the dollar.
How much has the fund received this year?
US$3,883,350,120 between 1 January and 30 September 2026.
Each monthly report states inflows under three headings: royalties, profit oil and signature bonus. Converted at the GYD 208.50 to USD 1 rate the reports themselves state, the nine months come to:
| Inflow, 1 Jan to 30 Sep 2026 | G$'000 | US$ | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit oil | 740,938,038 | 3,553,659,655 | 91.5% |
| Royalties | 68,719,615 | 329,590,480 | 8.5% |
| Signature bonus | 20,847 | 99,986 | 0.003% |
| Total | 809,678,500 | 3,883,350,120 | 100% |
Source: Natural Resource Fund monthly reports, January to September 2026.
That is US$3.88 billion rounded, against receipts of every kind.
Royalties appear in three months only, January, April and July, at US$110.9 million, US$107.5 million and US$111.2 million. They are paid quarterly, thirty days after the quarter ends. Across the fund's whole life the royalty line is US$1.3 billion of US$10.5 billion, set out in Guyana's Oil Fund Has Taken In US$10.5 Billion Since 2020. Profit oil arrives every month and ranges from US$184.1 million in January to US$776.3 million in August. The cargo programme behind those payments runs to 33 million barrels in December alone, per Guyana's December Loading Schedule.
Budget 2026 assumed petroleum deposits of US$2,744.2 million for the year. The Ministry of Finance's Mid-Year Report 2026 revised that to US$6,497.6 million, which the report states is 136.8 per cent higher than projected at the time of preparing Budget 2026, made up of US$5,972.5 million of profit oil, US$508.1 million of royalties and a US$17.0 million signature bonus. Against the revised figure, nine months have produced 59.8 per cent of what the year is now expected to yield.
How much has been taken out?
US$1.77 billion, in six transfers to the Consolidated Fund.
| Month | G$'000 withdrawn | US$ |
|---|---|---|
| March | 83,400,000 | 400,000,000 |
| May | 104,250,000 | 500,000,000 |
| June | 25,020,000 | 120,000,000 |
| July | 62,550,000 | 300,000,000 |
| August | 52,125,000 | 250,000,000 |
| September | 41,700,000 | 200,000,000 |
| Total | 369,045,000 | 1,770,000,000 |
Source: as above.
Every one of the six is an exact round figure in United States dollars once the reports' own 208.50 rate is applied: 400, 500, 120, 300, 250 and 200 million. The transfers are set in dollars and recorded in Guyana dollars at the fixed rate. The pressure on that rate, and what the IMF says is driving it, is in The IMF Says Investment Imports Keep Guyana's Currency Market Tight. January, February and April record no withdrawal.
Withdrawals are 45.6 per cent of what came in over the same nine months.
What governs the size of those transfers was in front of the IMF this month. Its staff asked for a budget target and an audit timetable, and the government offered a guidepost instead: The IMF Asked Guyana for a Budget Target and an Audit Timetable. The spending they fund sits in a half-year account where the forecast for everything except oil was cut, in Guyana's Economy Grew 33.3 Per Cent.
Does the arithmetic check?
It closes to the dollar.
The fund opened the year at G$677,711,491 thousand and closed September at G$1,141,102,012 thousand. Adding the nine months of inflows, subtracting the six withdrawals and adding the interest recorded in each report reproduces the closing balance exactly, with no residual.
| Roll-forward, 2026 to date | G$'000 |
|---|---|
| Opening balance, 1 January | 677,711,491 |
| Inflows | 809,678,500 |
| Withdrawals | (369,045,000) |
| Interest | 22,757,021 |
| Closing balance, 30 September | 1,141,102,012 |
Source: as above.
The reports put the closing balance at US$5,472,911,327.29, or US$5.47 billion. The fund opened the year at about US$3.25 billion, so it grew by US$2.22 billion while US$1.77 billion was withdrawn from it.
The third-quarter figures also agree with a second, independently published record. Adding the July, August and September inflows gives US$1,886,404,690, against the US$1,886,404,692 itemised deposit by deposit in Government Notice No. 03/2026, a gazetted notice issued under section 33(2) of the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 which gives the Bank of Guyana as its source. That notice named every vessel and every lifting date: Twenty-Two Cargo Liftings Account for 94 Per Cent of It. The two-dollar difference is rounding on the exchange conversion. The signature bonus of US$99,986 in the August monthly report is the US$99,985 the gazette attributes to CGG Services SAS for a 3D seismic agreement.
What is the money earning?
2.693 per cent so far this year, on a portfolio that is entirely cash.
| September 2026 report | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total cash portfolio | 100 per cent of assets |
| Return, month | 0.301% |
| Return, quarter | 0.906% |
| Return, year to date | 2.693% |
| Year to date, annualised | 3.606% |
| Since inception, annualised | 2.723% |
| Benchmark | not stated |
| Excess return | not stated |
Source: Natural Resource Fund monthly report, September 2026.
Interest for the nine months was US$109,146,384, which is 2.81 per cent of the receipts that arrived in the same period. The benchmark and excess-return rows of the report are blank, so the return is published without a comparator. The mandate that produces that position was examined in Guyana's Oil Fund Is US$5.4 Billion. All of It Sits Overnight at the New York Fed and measured against three other oil funds in Three Oil Funds Published Their Returns.
What does this mean for the rest of the Caribbean?
That a monthly statement, published on time for nine consecutive months, can be audited by a reader with a calculator.
The fund publishes a one-page statement of financial position and performance every month, carrying the opening balance, each category of inflow, the withdrawal to the Consolidated Fund, the interest, the closing balance in both currencies, and the return over five horizons. Nine of them in sequence reconcile without a gap, and the quarter they cover matches a separately gazetted itemisation of the same receipts.
What the monthly reports do not carry is the statutory withdrawal limit, so nothing in them establishes whether US$1.77 billion is at, below or above what the Act permits for the year. The ceiling is set in the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 rather than in the reports.
The share of receipts arriving as profit oil rather than royalty, and why that share moved, was examined in Guyana's Share of Its Own Oil Hit a Record.
The entities
- Natural Resource Fund is the account into which Guyana's petroleum revenues are paid.
- Consolidated Fund is the government account that receives withdrawals from the fund.
- Bank of Guyana is given in the gazetted notice as the source of the receipt figures.
- Government Notice No. 03/2026 itemised the third-quarter receipts deposit by deposit.
- Section 33(2) of the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021 is the provision requiring notification of receipts.
- CGG Services SAS made the signature bonus payment recorded in August.
- Mid-Year Report 2026 is the Ministry of Finance publication carrying the revised petroleum deposit projection.
What the title card shows
Every data point on the article's title card, in text.
- US$3,883,350,120. Petroleum receipts, 1 January to 30 September 2026. Source: Natural Resource Fund monthly reports, January to September 2026.
- US$1,770,000,000. Withdrawn to the Consolidated Fund over the same nine months, in six transfers. Source: as above.
- US$5,472,911,327.29. Closing balance at 30 September 2026. Source: Natural Resource Fund monthly report, September 2026.
- 91.5 per cent. Profit oil as a share of receipts for the nine months. Source: as above.
- 2.693 per cent. Return year to date on a portfolio that is 100 per cent cash. Source: September 2026 report.
- Six. Withdrawals in nine months, each an exact round figure in United States dollars. Source: as above.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did Guyana's Natural Resource Fund receive in the first nine months of 2026?
US$3,883,350,120, made up of US$3,553,659,655 of profit oil, US$329,590,480 of royalties and a US$99,986 signature bonus, per the fund's monthly reports for January to September 2026.
How much was withdrawn from the fund?
US$1,770,000,000, in six transfers to the Consolidated Fund: US$400 million in March, US$500 million in May, US$120 million in June, US$300 million in July, US$250 million in August and US$200 million in September.
What was the fund worth at the end of September 2026?
US$5,472,911,327.29, equivalent to G$1,141,102,012 thousand at the GYD 208.50 rate the reports state.
Do the monthly reports reconcile?
Yes. The January opening balance plus nine months of inflows, less the six withdrawals, plus the interest recorded each month, equals the reported 30 September closing balance exactly.
What return is the fund earning?
2.693 per cent year to date, 3.606 per cent annualised, and 2.723 per cent annualised since inception, on a portfolio recorded as 100 per cent cash. The benchmark and excess-return rows of the report are blank.
How much interest did the fund earn?
US$109,146,384 over the nine months, equal to 2.81 per cent of the receipts that arrived in the same period.
Was the amount withdrawn within the legal limit?
The monthly reports do not state the statutory withdrawal ceiling, which is set in the Natural Resource Fund Act 2021, so the reports alone do not establish it either way.
Why do royalties appear in only three of the nine months?
Royalties are paid quarterly, thirty days after each quarter ends, so they land in January, April and July in this sequence, at US$110.9 million, US$107.5 million and US$111.2 million.
Correction, 22 October 2026. This article originally compared the nine-month receipts to a full-year projection of about US$2.8 billion, reported by Kaieteur News. That figure is the Budget 2026 assumption, which the Ministry of Finance revised upward to US$6,497.6 million in its Mid-Year Report 2026. The comparison now runs against the revised projection and is sourced to that report. The receipts, withdrawals and balances in this article are unchanged.