The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), in a recent statement said, the body is calling on the local banks to take a more proactive approach in sharing possible hindrances; whether legislative, economic, social, or environmental, restricting better access to finance for the local private sector.
According to the body although several members of Guyana’s private sector have publicly voiced their concerns about the issue along with several notable public charges by the Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, the banks have not been forthcoming with the information.
Access to finance is one of the most critical issues facing the business community and the Chamber believes that the banks play a major role in mitigating the existing challenge. The banks’ failure to respond to the concerns of the private sector leads to the assumption that the issue of access to finance may be a question of internal diffidence at their level as opposed to a national legislation or policy concern, the GCCI stated.
“The private sector needs to have access to multiple instruments of borrowing such as invoice factoring, accounts receivable financing, contract borrowing and movable property lending to increase its competitiveness in the oil and gas sector. The local private sector risks becoming unable to compete with regional and international counterparts if this issue persists.”
The GCCI and the Bank of Guyana, along with the Government have been trading words over availability of foreign exchange, particularly United States dollars, to do business and the different methods that should be employed to improve transaction management.
