Business

By Jacquelyn Hamer The emergence of the SME Caribbean Toolkit which, according to Republic Bank’s full page advertisement in the local newspapers can be used “to start, strengthen or expand” existing businesses provides the most recent indication that local commercial banks are beginning to pay more serious attention to the needs of growing businesses.

-Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation report says inefficient financial systems compromising private sector growth The Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation 2010 Index of Economic Freedom in Guyana has said that the country’s financial system is plagued by inefficiency and a poor institutional framework that continues to compromise the growth of the business community.

A recently released study on tax regimes in Latin America and the Caribbean has cautioned that special tax regimes instituted by some countries to ensure the viability of small and micro businesses can have harmful long-term effects on productivity in those countries.

– passage of new laws expected this year Commercial banks and other local lending agencies are eagerly anticipating the passage in the National Assembly later this year of a Credit Reporting Bill that will create a quick reference rating for potential borrowers.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 346’s trading results showed consideration of $1,505,367 from 78,450 shares traded in 8 transactions as compared to session 345 which showed consideration of $5,686,129 from 485,234 shares traded in 19 transactions. 

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

A high-powered team of academics and administrators from the Arthur Loc Jack Graduate School of Business of the University of the West Indies visited Guyana earlier this week to finalize plans for the launch here of the Graduate School’s Executive Masters in Business Administration.

Continually declining reliability on the electricity generation service afforded them by the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) an increasing number of Guyanese are beginning to turn their attention to the solar energy option as some the country’s leading merchants seek to provide consumers with an alternative energy source.

In a sense the disclosure earlier this week that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) decided to dispense with the services of six of its senior officers including the Deputy Commissioner responsible for the critical Value Added Tax and Excise Department, is probably not altogether surprising.

E-book Readers The popularity of the Amazon Kindle, an electronic reading device, provides a glimpse into what is perhaps the future of publishing: e-books, a relatively new form of digital media. 

If you happen to drop by Scotia Bank’s Carmichael Street branch you will hear a continual recording of the voice of Branch Manager Matthew Langevine offering mortgages at “rock bottom” interest rates.

– puts Heads of Department through exhaustive budget deliberations If Keith Burrowes insists that his work as Chairman of the 2008 Commission of Enquiry into the operations of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council is done he makes no secret of his intimate involvement in supporting the implementation of a menu of measures which he hopes will extricate the municipality from its present predicament.

– former programme director says state endorsement could unlock further EU funding The positive outcomes of the three-year four million euros European Union-funded Guyana Micro Projects Programme have more than made a case for further funding to allow for continuity, according to Jimmy Bhojedat who served as programme director for the project.

Tightening anti-money laundering laws The parliament of Antigua and Barbuda has been debating legislation aimed at strengthening local anti-money laundering laws.

New sales tax rates approved by Antigua-Barbuda senate ST JOHN’s, Antigua — The Antigua and Barbuda Senate has approved the ABST Amendment Regulations, which are now scheduled to come into effect on March 15.

– health care limitations can keep investors away Economic and social development in the vast majority of Caribbean Community (Caricom) may be under threat as a result the chronic shortage of nurses in the region according to a recent World Bank Report.

Why are we here? The University of the West Indies Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business is an internationally accredited school with the Association of MBA’s in the United Kingdom.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 345’s trading results showed consideration of $5,686,129 from 485,234 shares traded in 19 transactions as compared to session 344 which showed consideration of $318,396 from 28,564 shares traded in 11 transactions. 

– efficiency, safety and responsiveness of industry had been compromised The recently released Inter American Develop-ment Bank (IDB) Country Report on Guyana has lauded the joint effort of government and the private sector to modernize the country’s air transport system which, the report says had fallen into “a state of disrepair” over several decades.