Dear Editor,
In the wake of President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s recent address, much has been made of the “modernization” of the Bank of Guyana. We hear talk of a “data-led” future and a Central Bank that acts with “urgency and intelligence.” However, for those of us who have moved beyond rhetoric to actually build the physical landscape of this “new Guyana,” these words ring hollow.
I write on behalf of several major diaspora investment syndicates operating in varying sectors of Guyana’s economy, who has successfully navigated the complexities of large-scale economic environments, working in partnership with other syndicates of international investors who believe in the Guyanese investment dream. Today, that dream is being suffocated by a manufactured foreign exchange crisis.
They now find themselves in a “Gilded Cage.” On paper, their developments are successful, their valuations are record-breaking, and their profits are healthy. But in practice, they are caught between a rock and a hard place. These investors—who courageously provided the hard currency necessary to import implements, technology, and expertise—are now apprehensively awaiting their dividends in an environment that they were reassured by Pres. Ali himself to be welcoming without challenges. In return, they are forced to “get in line” at commercial banks that claims there is no shortage of forex, while simultaneously refusing to process requests for their wire transfers, leaving them with doubts about the sincerity of the President’s now “renewed vision”.
This is not merely a “liquidity mismatch.” This is a failure of the state to honor the implicit contract it makes with every foreign investor: If you bring your capital here to help us grow, you shall be free to take your returns home. When the authorities pick winners and losers in the forex market, they aren’t just managing currency; they are destroying reputations. As developers with an unblemished track records, the inability to repatriate profits is causing irreparable harm to their professional reputation. Their collective patience is wearing thin, not because the projects failed, but because the system they backed is now failing them.
If Guyana wants to be a global investment destination, it cannot operate like a “closed-loop” economy where money goes in but never comes out, essentially trapping funds, something serious investors steer clear of . No investors wants their capital which are their essential tools of their trade to be trapped in a system that has no definitive answers.
Investors by nature are speculators, but thrive on calculated predictability. You cannot build a modern financial ecosystem on a foundation of currency rationing and political favouritism.
The Bank of Guyana must stop the “passive-aggressive” monitoring and start facilitating the legitimate repatriation of profits. If the “Digital Age” is truly here, let it start with a transparent, market-driven exchange system that doesn’t hold investor confidence hostage.
Yours truly,
Hemdutt Kumar
