Business

The recently released Auditor General’s Report for 2009 reads – as it customarily does like a corruption catalogue.

Bank Chairman hints at ‘expanded network of branches’ Demerara Bank Ltd is reporting a “very good” performance for the year ended September 30th, 2010 and the Bank’s Chairman, Yesu Persaud is citing the bank’s approach and its “greater understanding of the changes in the world of finance” as some of the contributory factors to its success.

Last October, Starr Computers opened the doors of its new Business Centre and the company’s General Manager Rehman Majeed says that its primary objective is to equip small and growing businesses to enhance their operational procedures and, by extension, their efficiency and competitiveness.

(Prepared by the Guyana marketing Corporation and published by Stabroek News Business as a public service)    The New Guyana Marketing Corporation has agreed to provide us with the above information which we will publish on a weekly basis subject to receipt.

Membership The Guyana Stock Exchange opened for business in July 2003 and by November 8, 2010, it had completed 381 trading sessions. 

The chief executive officers of both the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Digicel have confirmed that they are in receipt of copies of the draft telecommunications legislation, which when finalized, will be sent to the National Assembly for assent, paving the way for the liberalisation of the sector.

– but sector stability threatened by land appropriation crisis, Shields says Even as Guyana’s gold production seems set to exceed 300,000 ounces for the second consecutive year, controversies between Amer-indian communities and miners over mining rights in several of the country’s well-known gold-bearing areas have triggered a crisis that threatens to viability of the industry, Executive Secretary of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association (GGDMA) Edward Shields has said.

The decline of the state-run bauxite sector in Linden set in train what a former LINMINE employee aptly described as “a continuous calamity of woes” for the community to which there seems to be no end.

Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Stockfeeds Inc (GSI) Robert Badal recently outlined what he described as the company’s outstanding post-privatization accomplishments, at a reception held at the Pegasus Hotel to mark its fiftieth anniversary.

Guyana’s production and export of forestry products both recorded significant increases during the January to August period this year compared with the corresponding period last year, according to figures published in the September 2010 Commodity Market Update prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture.

– beyond President’s short-term intervention Some of the 90-odd Lindeners now jobless following the closure of the Barama plywood factory concur that a long-term solution to the problem of unemployment in Linden and in the wider Region Ten will have to be found if the present mood of doom and gloom is to be lifted.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 380’s trading results showed consideration of $4,001,387 from 127,995 shares traded in 10 transactions as compared to session 379 which showed consideration of $2,867,873 from 66,146 shares traded in 11 transactions. 

– private sector should not be “gripped by fear” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Pegasus Hotel Robert Badal believes the continued growth and expansion of the private sector in Guyana can only be assured in circumstances where businessmen are prepared to identify constraints and intervene with government to have those removed.

– Agriculture Ministry A significant increase in local rice production during the month of September coupled with various worldwide disasters that have affected global rice and wheat production, have created the prospects for improved prices for Guyana, according to the local Ministry of Agriculture.

As best as this newspaper can recall, no businessman, at least in recent memory, has chosen to talk back to government on any issue in quite the manner that Robert Badal has recently.

Feeling It What does the structure of the Guyana economy tell us about the ability of Guyanese to serve customers and keep a smile? 

Allan and Marysia Downes are celebrating the first anniversary of the launch of Kitchen Kraft an enterprise which they both insist is concerned as much with offering Guyanese the highest standards in kitchen, dining and house ware items as it is with bringing them a measure of success as entrepreneurs.