By signing on to the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Global Trade Finance Programme (GTFP), the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) is now better placed to offer more trade finance options to small and medium-sized businesses operating in key sectors in Guyana.
At a ceremony held earlier this month, GBTI’s Chief Executive Officer John Tracy said that the bank was “extremely pleased” to join the GTFP since it is now better positioned to “increase trade flows.” The $3 billion GTFP extends and complements the capacity of commercial banks to deliver trade financing, by providing risk mitigation in new or challenging markets where trade lines may be constrained.
GTFP offers banks partial or full guarantees covering payment risk in the emerging markets for trade-related transactions. These guarantees are transaction-specific and may be evidenced by a variety of underlying instruments, such as letters of credit, trade-related promissory notes, accepted drafts, bills of exchange, guarantees, bid and performance bonds and advance payment guarantees. The guarantees are available for all private sector trade transactions that meet IFC’s eligibility criteria. This enables the continued flow of trade credit into the market at a time when imports may be critical and the country’s exports can generate much-needed foreign exchange.
Through the GTFP, GBTI is now better positioned to establish working partnerships with major international banks, which are also part of the programme, thereby broadening its access to finance and reducing cash collateral requirements.
Fuel from chicken feathers?
US scientists are currently pursuing research that could lead to the transformation of much of the 11 billion pounds of poultry waste into fuel.
Most of the waste is currently utilised as low-grade animal feed, however, researchers at the University of Nevada have reportedly created a new, environmentally-friendly way of developing biodiesel fuel from chicken feather meal.
Led by Professor Manoranjan Misra, a team of university researchers has discovered that chicken feather meal, consisting of processed chicken feathers, blood and innards, can be utilised as an alternative non-food feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The team has already extracted fat from chicken feather meal using boiling water and processed it into biodiesel.
Given the amount of chicken feather meal generated by the poultry industry globally each year, the researchers estimate that the United States could produce around 153 million gallons of biodiesel each year and that 593 million gallons can be produced worldwide.
