Guyana is poised to soon see the disbursement of the US$500 million loan facility extended last year by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to assist this country in hastening its infrastructural development agenda, even as the bank looks at another initiative targeting small- and medium-size businesses (SMEs).
“We have disbursed a couple of other loan facilities for other countries in the region and the one for Guyana is within the ones that are nearing completion for actual disbursement to take place. That is something we are working very closely with the Government of Guyana on,” Okechukwu Ihejirika, Acting Regional Chief Operating Officer, Afreximbank CARICOM Office located in Barbados, told the Stabroek News via a telephone interview last week.
“Another one of the banks’ deals we signed was with the New Hayven [Merchant Bank] in Guyana. We want them to pilot our intervention which is supporting SMEs, especially in the oil and gas sector and the Guyanese policy it has for local content. Through this bank, we will find a way to reach out to them, the SMEs. We are working the fine details on the proposal we have with them for execution. So that we will be able to reach out to local SMEs, through them, and they can play a role in the intervention within the Guyanese economy,” he added.
