Business

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

Government’s move to subsidize the increase in the price of locally produced flour announced by the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) earlier this week may not be sufficient to forestall some attempts to increase the price of flour-based products according to a well-placed business sector source.

GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 252’s trading results showed consideration of $6,832,388 from 560,154 shares traded in 26 transactions as compared to session 251 which showed consideration of $1,634,900 from 60,118 shares traded in 15 transactions.

GASCI Summary of Financials Session 252 May 7, 2008  Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

-concerned over delay in granting leases More than thirty farmers in the Dallawalla area of Region Ten may have give up sections of their farms along a two-mile stretch of arable agricultural land adjacent to the Demerara River to make way for what an official of the Region Ten Farmers Association has told Stabroek Business is a move to construct port facilities along the river front. 

Stabroek Business has learnt that senior Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officials whose responsibilities included administering the relationship between Fidelity and the Authority had been assigned “an inappropriate range of assignments” that could easily have led to irregularities like the fraud that is currently under investigation. 

These are challenging times for the jewellery industry. Fast rising food prices and the more general rise in the cost of living have reduced the levels of disposable income among ordinary Guyanese, impacting on their ability to indulge in the time-worn pursuit of buying jewellery; but the Maraj brothers say that it will take more than tough times to cause them to loose faith in the jewelry industry.

We remain wedded to our position that the undertakings given by the President in the Customs/Fidelity affair should serve as an assurance that the ensuing investigation will get to the heart of the matter and that the masterminds behind the scam will be exposed and punished.

Guyana Small Businesses & Tourism Sectors could benefit from participation Each year, thousands of Guyanese in the diaspora look forward to Memorial Weekend Celebrations in Georgia.

By Rawle Lucas Indicator of Price Level The Guyana Bureau of Statistics reported in its Statistical Bulletin that, by December 2007, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all items had risen by 30 points from where it was one year ago in December 2006. 

By Rajendra Rampersaud The present rice shortage is currently creating havoc with the global economy after years of unfair treatment to rice farmers.

Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

(graph) GASCI (www.gasci.com/telephone Nº 223-6175/6) reports that session 251’s trading results showed consideration of $1,634,900 from 60,118 shares traded in 15 transactions as compared to session 250 which showed consideration of $1,012,339 from 43,334 shares traded in 8 transactions.

T&T mills seeking to bring local company down …Sukhai The National Milling Company (NAMILCO) could seek legal recourse through the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to halt what the company says is the ‘dumping’ of flour on the local market by two regional flour producers.

Company engaging government on price increases Guyanese consumers will shortly be facing their second increase in the price of locally produced flour this year and the new price increase is likely to have a further knock-on effect on the prices of bakery products and other flour-based commodities.

Stabroek Business has been reliably informed that the operations of some of the country’s large importers could come under scrutiny by the team set up to probe the recent allegations of fraud involving officials of the Customs and Trade Administra-tion and the local distribution company Fidelity.

If only because of the persistent charges of corruption that have been leveled against his administration, President Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent comments on the alleged Customs/Fidelity fraud – the pertinent details of which were set out in our editorial last Friday – are deserving of further, more thorough examination.

By Rawle Lucas Public’s right to know In keeping with the provisions of the Procurement Act of 2003, Guyana has started reporting information on contracts awarded to suppliers and contractors through the newly amended public procurement process.  

Can training make a difference? Corporate training is an effective tool in retaining the best talent and increasing the overall productivity of an organization.