Government has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to conduct an independent review of Guyana’s financial sector which is likely to be done next year.
In his Budget 2015 presentation on Monday, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan told the National Assembly that government has requested the IMF and the World Bank to conduct a Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP), and this is likely to be done in 2016.
“The FSAP is a comprehensive and in-depth assessment of a country’s financial sector, which analyzes the resilience of the financial sector, the quality of the regulatory and supervisory framework, and the capacity to manage and resolve financial crises. The goal of FSAP assessments is two-fold: to gauge the stability of the financial sector and to assess its potential contribution to growth and development,” Jordan told the National Assembly.
“The Government looks forward to this independent review and will consider the ensuing recommendations to strengthen the financial sector and hence promote the development of Guyana,” he said.
Meantime, he also disclosed that efforts are underway to make cashless transactions easier. The minister noted that the payments system is under constant review. He said that in the area of cashless settlements, the services offered to GT&T mobile phone users were expanded to facilitate payments to registered merchants and in 2014, mobile money services were used by over 6000 account holders to transfer $598 million.
By the end of June 2015, the number of account holders had increased to over 7600 while the value transferred was $499 million. “Another development in the area of cashless settlement is the introduction of an electronic switch that links the commercial banks. While the use of this switch is currently limited to certain types of transactions, commercial banks are working towards wider use of the switch. The Bank of Guyana is providing the settlement service on a daily basis,” Jordan said.
The minister also told the House that another development is that of image exchange, for which the Central Bank and the commercial banks are collaborating. “An image clearing pilot project commenced in the last quarter of 2014 and is expected to go live this month. The goal is to reduce clearing time for a cheque drawn on any branch of any commercial bank in Guyana to between 1-2 days. A successful image exchange system could lead to the development of an automated clearing house,” he said.
