Moneygram aiming for expanded
rural, hinterland service
The ongoing downturn in the United States economy is impacting on the inflow of foreign exchange remittances into Guyana, according to Deo Persaud, Chief Executive of Neal and Massy, holders of the local franchise for the remittance service Moneygram International.
“What we have noted at Moneygram is that while the number of people who use the service continues to grow the amounts being remitted fell last year compared to the peak periods of Mashramani and Christmas of the previous year,” Persaud told Stabroek Business.
Persaud said that he was aware of a number of United States-Guyanese who are directly or indirectly involved in the housing industry as mortgage brokers, real estate brokers and advertising and promotion agents who have taken a hit in recent times. “The remittance of monies to Guyana from the United States is a function of affordability and if the US economy continues to under-perform we anticipate that there will be a slowdown in the rate of growth of remittances to Guyana,” Persaud said.
Persaud told Stabroek Business that since remittances from the United States played an important role in the livelihoods of Guyanese a slowdown in the flow of remittances could impact on the level of disposable income among ordinary Guyanese. “Around 75 per cent of our remittance transactions are done at a subsistence level – around US$200 per month. These are intended to help the recipients take care of basic expenses including utilities. Additionally, there are remittances associated with seasonal events like Christmas, Mash, Easter, Mothers’ Day and back-to-school periods.
Persaud told Stabroek Business that some overseas-based Guyanese were also remitting larger amounts to assist their families with house and land acquisitions in Guyana. He said that this was all the more reason why any slowdown in remittances associated with a lack of affordability on the parts of the senders could impact on important welfare and standard of living issues among recipients of remittances in Guyana.
Asked about the potential for harnessing remittances for investment purposes Persaud said that given the amounts that were being remitted and the role that these amounts played in subsidizing recipients in Guyana he doubted that there would be enough left for any meaningful investments.
Meanwhile Persaud told Stabroek Business that Moneygram has been seeking to strategically refine its operations to take account of demand for the service outside of the traditional areas. “Our Moneygram office at Lethem, for example, seeks to respond to the movement of people from coastal Guyana, the increased volume of interior business activity and the imminent completion and commissioning of the Guyana-Brazil road link. “What Moneygram is seeking to do is to provide a service anywhere in Guyana where the need is perceived to exist. Another facet of our operations is our emphasis on improving the quality of the service that we provide so that recipients can have access to their monies quickly and through our agents, both within and outside the normal working day.”
