Enterprises benefiting from loans and other services provided by the Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) last year provided employment for approximately 9,628 persons including the owners of those enterprises, according to the recently released report of the Board of Directors of the entity.
Income, the report says, totalled $524 million while expenditure totalled $307 million, resulting in a surplus of $217 million last year compared with $177 million at the end of 2011.
In a year which, according to the report of the Board of Directors, IPED recorded, “an excellent financial performance” IPED’s gross loans portfolio increased from $1.794 billion in 2011 to $2.238 billion last year, an overall increase in lending by $144 million or 24.7 per cent. This, the report says, lags only slightly behind the growth in credit to private enterprises by commercial banks of 27.6 per cent.
Statistics published in the 2012 report indicate that last year distribution services led the way in terms of benefiting from IPED’s financial support, securing 1,490 loans followed by the rice sector which benefited from 1,481 loans. The livestock sector secured 785 loans while 351 loans were disbursed in the other crops sector. Other sectors including mining, forestry, mining, manufacturing and fishing benefited from more modest numbers of IPED loans.
Meanwhile the report reveals that IPED currently provides support for a total of 3,888 enterprises scattered across all ten of Guyana’s administrative regions, with 1,186 enterprises in Region Four benefiting from IPED support, 721 enterprises from Region Two being beneficiaries and 641 in Region Six securing loans and other services. A measure of the spread of IPED’s support for the small business sector is reflected in the fact that 721 enterprises at locations in the Pomeroon/Supenaam area benefit from IPED services, along with a further 163 enterprises in the Barima/Waini area.
In his report published as part of the 2012 annual report Chairman of the entity’s Board of Directors Yesu Persaud noted that the quality of IPED’s loan portfolio continues to improve with exposure to non-performing loans declined from $48.4 million in 2011 to $45.9 million last year.
In his report, Persaud disclosed that the total assets being held by IPED amount to $2.846 billion, an increase of $421 million from the prior period of $2.425 billion. The assets, Persaud said in his report, were funded mainly by accumulated surplus which accounted for 82.7 per cent of total assets held in 2012 compared to 88 per cent of assets held in the previous year.
According to Persaud, the increase in liabilities was done to facilitate growth in the loan portfolio that was beyond the surplus generated for the year. Towards the end of last year IPED drew down $219 million of a $410 million loan negotiated with Demerara Bank. That loan is repayable in 180 monthly installments of $3.46 million.
Meanwhile, Persaud said in his report that credit facilities apart, IPED continued to assist the micro and small business sector by providing technical assistance and training through its Entrepreneurial Development Centre.
