Business

– revenue down by more than $50M over 2008 Despite what it says was a “sharp decline” in demand for services in the insurance sector last year, the Demerara Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd has reported an impressive 35 per cent increase in life insurance sales in 2009 over the previous year.

– private sector urges privatization of Municipal Day Care centres Against the backdrop of yet another urban garbage disposal crisis resulting from the withdrawal of services by private collectors owed millions of dollars by a cash-strapped and increasingly beleaguered Mayor and City Council (M&CC), representatives of the municipality met top private sector officials last week to discuss how the two sides can work together to help the council secure the hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding rates and taxes owed by urban business houses.

Business Editorial All of the ills of the City Council cannot, justifiably be laid at the door of the Mayor and Councillors (M&CC) and the city’s public servants.

The July 10-15 meeting of the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Network which is being held in Curacao will witness a special ceremony at which two senior officials of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Suriname’s national telecommunications facility, TELESUR will formally launch their jointly owned Suriname/Guyana Submarine Cable System (SGSCS) GT&T’S Chief Financial Officer Yog Mahadeo, who assumes duty as the company’s Chief Executive Officer on August 1 told Stabroek Business in an interview earlier this week that he and Russ Headley, a senior TELESUR adviser will be the officials involved in the launch ceremony.

By Rawle Lucas Big Dent The administration promised that by 2010 it would put a big dent in the housing problem which existed throughout Guyana at the end of the 20th century. 

By Jacquelyn Hamer Jacquelyn Hamer is a retired Guyanese diplomat and a Director of the skills training organization Visions of Excellence.

– other small business lending schemes possible, Head of Credit says Several applicants for micro-business lending, under the Guyana Bank for Trading and Industry’s (GBTI) new Women of Worth (WOW) lending facility have had their loans approved, according to information disclosed to this newspaper by a senior bank official.

IPED sees industry becoming top export Guyana’s aquaculture industry may still be experiencing the challenges of infancy and growth but investors and enthusiasts’ confidence in the sector appears to bode well for its breakthrough.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 363’s trading results showed consideration of $3,472,671 from 210,289 shares traded in 13 transactions as compared to session 362 which showed consideration of $2,136,142 from 200,082 shares traded in 17 transactions. 

(Prepared by the Guyana marketing Corporation and published by Stabroek News Business as a public service)

PSC Chairman refutes EIU claim Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Dookhoo has reacted sharply to claims made in the April 2010 Guyana Country Review published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) that the private sector is timid of criticizing the political administration, asserting that there is no reason for the private sector to be intimidated by government.

– hydroponics will help mitigate effects of climate change – Homenauth The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) is continuing its aggressive promotion of one of the world’s oldest farming techniques as an efficient, environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach to enhancing productivity in an environment that offers particular advantages for small-scale farmers.

Business Editorial We are not surprised by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh’s robust response to this newspaper’s coverage of some elements of the April 2010 Country Report on Guyana by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Rawle Lucas is a Guyanese-born Certified Public Accountant and Assistant Vice-President of the Lending Services Division.

The following is the first in a series of brief articles which the Stabroek Business has agreed to publish on issues pertaining to the work of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council  and more particularly, to financing the work of the Council.

Agriculture Ministry will help investors develop The transference of technologies for climate change adaptation and mitigation to the agricultural sector in Guyana is listed as one of the key pursuits of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in its 2009 Annual Report and towards this end the institute has already been involved in collaboration with national and international  agencies “working on the frontline of climate change” to train farmers and other stakeholders in the use of those technologies.

High taxation contributed to a significant decrease in the “total comprehensive income” of JP Santos and Company Ltd last year, according to the company’s 2009 Annual Report.

Sugar, rice, gold, prawn production up ……Private Sector Commission First quarter 2010 production figures published by the Private Sector Commission earlier this month points to a production decline in the forest products, bauxite and fish and increased output in sugar, rice, prawn small shrimp and gold during the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period last year.