Despite pay increases & training, GRA’s Petroleum Department still badly understaffed

Those workers are particularly needed in the cost recovery audit section where persons have been outsourced to audit the financial statements of the oil companies operating in Guyana.

Mr. Statia said efforts have been made to attract people by offering higher salaries and appealing to their sense of patriotism. But that hasn’t been enough.

“Most of the time, I appeal to their patriotism.

“I think we offer our staff the best pay and conditions than the rest of the public service… twice, maybe, as the rest of the public service and they still leave,” the Commissioner General lamented.

So the tax regulator has been training a wide cross section of its existing staff, preparing them to be transferred to the highly-technical Petroleum Revenue Department. Once deemed competent, those persons who get training are transferred to the understaffed department.

That’s how the staff complement increased from 15 to 31 between 2019 and now.

But another challenge presents itself.

According to Mr. Statia, those trained workers are often recruited by oil companies working in Guyana. Those companies, he said, offer them salaries even higher than his.

As such, there remains a shortage of staff and skills, forcing the GRA to engage in selective audits focused on the areas where the largest returns can be garnered and harness the skills of external auditors while training more staff.

“If you train the entire staff, I think we could meet targets in a couple of years.

“Oil and gas training is a technical aspect of taxation and you do not meet that level almost immediately,” Mr. Statia said.