GUYANA’S Central Bank is investigating reports that foreign goods meant for another country, were being paid for using foreign currency sourced from Guyana.
This was announced in a release issued by the Private Sector Commission, whose executive members on Monday met with the Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Dr Gobind Ganga, on the foreign exchange issue and related matters.
Amid rumours about shortage of foreign currency on the local market, the Bank of Guyana (BoG) has been accusing exporters of hoarding foreign currency, resulting in the devaluation of the Guyana dollar. The Central Bank recently in response to calls made by the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) for the Government and the bank to take steps to stabilise the value of the local currency, said the hoarding of foreign currency by exporters is “evidenced by the large foreign currency balances that are being held in their exporters’ retention accounts.” “Instead of using these balances to complete their transactions, they have been sourcing foreign currency in the market. This has added further pressure on the demand for foreign currency and reduced the supply to the market. Both of these factors have contributed to the instability and depreciation of the rate,” the bank had said.
The PSC also said that it was disclosed at the meeting that there were some flows of foreign currency to Suriname by businesses that collected US$ in payment for goods. However, the PSC pointed out to the Governor that Guyana enjoyed a stable rate of exchange over several years and the present change is unnerving, but the Governor responded that even with all the speculation in the market, the depreciation of the Guyana dollar was modest. The commission promised to collaborate with the Central Bank in regular monitoring of the system to defend the currency against speculative threats.
Notwithstanding the concerns raised by many in the private sector about the exchange rate of the currency and the value of the Guyana dollar, the Central Bank has maintained that there is no shortage of foreign currency here and that the exchange rate is stable.

The Private Sector Commission also said that at their Monday meeting with the Governor, they were assured that there is adequate supply of foreign exchange and were provided statistical evidence by the bank to support this position. Also, Dr Ganga explained that the Guyana dollar should remain relatively stable due to the current low price of imports of petroleum and petroleum products which more than offset the decline in export receipts. The Governor opined that one should not pay more than GYD$215 to G$218 for a US dollar, but conceded that there is currently a relatively short waiting period for persons who wish to purchase foreign currency. He also cautioned that demand should be screened to establish legitimacy of the requests.
For the week ending March 14-17, 2017, the weighted average buying rate was G$214, while the weighted average selling rate was G$218. The turnover for the week was US$40.0 million. Total purchases and sales at the bank cambios were US$19.6 million and US$20.4 million respectively, the statement noted. Moreover, the bank had said that the aggregate working balance at the bank cambios was US$13.7 million at the end of business on March 17. One bank accounted for 32.8 per cent or US$4.5 million of the total working balance.
Demand at the end of the week stood at US$8.0 million, with two banks accounting for the bulk of the demand.