Five local companies yesterday received short-term trade financing assistance under a US$7m facility established between the IDB and Demerara Bank Limited (DBL).
The ceremony for the handing over of the Letters of Sanction was held at DBL’s headquarters on Camp Street.
The names of the five recipients were not provided at the ceremony and their representatives declined to speak to Stabroek News on the purposes to which the financing would be employed.
The financing has been made available by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) under its Trade Finance Facilitation Programme (TFFP). It is to be used for short-term international trade finance transactions to support local small and medium enterprises (SME). The five companies were said to be drawn from the mining, agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
Delivering remarks at the ceremony was Demerara Bank Chief Executive Officer Pravinchandra Dave who said that the institution welcomed the financing and said it will ensure that the line of credit is repaid in a timely manner.
IDB Country Representative Sophie Makonnen noted that the discussions between the IDB and Demerara Bank on the facility lasted for about three years. The agreement was finally announced on October 30 last year.
Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance Dr Ashni Singh, applauded the event stating that Guyana is on the verge of economic transformation despite the world being in the midst of a pandemic. He noted that Demerara Bank – the country’s only indigenous bank – is the first in Guyana to gain access to the facility through the IDB. Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited quickly followed suit.
“To the beneficiaries and participants in this programme, you are the first to benefit from this programme. The injection of this liquidity comes at a very challenging time for the domestic, regional and global economy,” he said.
He added that it is the Government’s hope that Guyana will not be dependent on the Oil and Gas sector alone and said that a strong non-oil economy is very important.
When the facility was launched last year, Dave had said it “… will be extended to the small scale entrepreneurs, small businesses for pre-shipment facility, for post-shipment finance. There are a lot of suppliers of services to the oil and gas companies which are not able to provide the collateral to the bank and what we can do [is] we can create a charge over the receivables and we can provide the facility to them (customers)”.
He had also noted that the line of credit, which is revolving, will allow the bank to increase foreign trade products to its small and medium-sized clients, adjusting its menu of products to the current context of client demands.
