The Office of Public Accountability has released the financial statements for the Guam Economic Development Authority.
Following a similar trend to other GovGuam agencies, GEDA has found that, despite the challenges of the pandemic, GEDA closed FY 2021 with an increase of $1.7M in its net income, stated the OPA.
They also report GEDA’s Operating Revenues increased from $5.2M in FY 2020 to the current $5.3M. This increase was due to increases in the Grants Revenue, Tobacco Settlement Revenue, and Guam Ancestral Land Commission lease commission.
According to the report, FY 2021 was “a year of tremendous economic challenges.” GEDA acted as the “fiscal” first responder to the island’s small businesses.
GEDA was mandated to provide pandemic grant assistance programs funded by the CARES Act.
Among the several grant assistance programs provided was the Guam Small Business Pandemic Assistance Grant, which aimed to promote the creation of jobs, stabilize operations, and foster economic growth amidst the pandemic.
The grant assistance program received 2,352 applications totaling $17M.
Independent auditors Ernst and Young expressed a “clean” opinion on GEDA’s FY 2021 financial statements and commended the agency for its 18th year for having no instances of noncompliance in its financial statements.
