MR. CLINTON WILLIAMS, President of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association Ltd. (GMSA), has called on political leaders to cease “bickering on an important piece of legislation”, as the GMSA is very disappointed, saddened, and indeed concerned about the implications of the decision arrived at by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) on Thursday, wherein it urged countries to implement whatever mechanisms are necessary to sanitise the world financial system against the ongoing risks of money laundering and financing of terrorism emanating from Guyana.

In an invited comment to the Guyana Chronicle, the GMSA President maintained that the decision has wide ranging implications not only for the manufacturing sector of Guyana, but also for the country as a whole in dealing with the rest of the world.

He furthered that the conditionalities imposed on Guyana have a two-fold penalizing effect, in that the non passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill has certain negative implications for Guyana’s dealing with the rest of the world, and Guyana has no recourse to alternative mechanisms for dealing with the world financial system.

Commenting on the implications of the decision on trade and investment in Guyana, Williams said these areas are crucial to the profitability of the country’s market, which at this juncture is dependent on the position adopted by the CFATF, whose decision will be furthered to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Williams observed that in regard to the market opportunities of small nations like Guyana and those within the rest of the Caribbean, what often persists is an inability to garner funds. He said that for such small nations, investment capital is difficult to come by, and no responsible investor would invest in an environment which does not adhere to international regulation.

(By Derwayne Wills)