G/town business chamber agitates for easier access to financing from local banks

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) on Thursday continued to lobby for easier access to much-needed financing, calling on local banks to respond to calls from both the private sector and the government.

The GCCI is among the private sector bodies that continuously advocate for easier access to financing to fund local investments.

Amid difficulties encountered by the private sector in accessing those finances, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh recently said the government will soon amend any laws and/or regulations that are hindering local banks from issuing more loans. But he said the banks themselves would be required to identify those laws and/or regulations.

See below full release from the GCCI:

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) 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.

Although several members of Guyana’s private sector have publicly voiced their concerns about the issue along with several notable public charges by 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 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.