President Irfaan Ali yesterday announced that in collaboration with Demerara Bank Limited (DBL), the Government will establish a $900m revolving fund to boost the production of the forestry sector.
The Head of State made the announcement at a stakeholder engagement at the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) in Kingston.
The $900m revolving fund, the President said, will attract an interest rate of 4% which he described as “unbelievable”.
He said the initiative is a collaborative effort among the government, the GFC and DBL. To applause he announced that the government will put $300m into the fund and this will be backed up by $600m from DBL.
“So we are going to unleash $900m to the market, to step up production so that we can meet the demand especially for the value-added products and to push this sector…to give it a real boost”, the President said, adding “because we are concerned about the production level and where it should be to meet our national demand in the markets we are building”.
He said that a committee will be set up to ensure that persons are sticking to what is expected of them.
Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat and other government officials were also in attendance.
