…AG says businesses “flocking Guyana in droves”

BETWEEN January to October 2018 applications to do business in Guyana have come from 418 local companies and 16 foreign companies along with 9,813 new business names and 8,619 business names renewed.

These were the figures presented by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams on Friday in the National Assembly, as he stood to present an update on the countries registries.
He told the House that the Commercial Registry had several significant accomplishments for the year 2018, so he is puzzled as to why the opposition is intent on painting a different picture to the public.

“I don’t know what is all this talk about that we are not doing well. Why are all these people coming to register businesses in Guyana if it was a doom and gloom situation?” the minister queried.

Meanwhile there were 4,730 Bills of Sale; 2,345 Bills of Sale renewals; 601 Trade Marks; five Patents; 12 Patents Renewal and two Trade Unions. Altogether, the Commercial Registry earned $183,969,436 for the period January to November 2018. “Mr. Speaker, the Guyanese people and foreigners have found Guyana to be a place for doing business and are complying with our legal requirements to get their registration and the necessary documents that would give them locus standi to do business in this beautiful country of Guyana and they are flocking in droves.”

The highlights came even as in the same year the registry also launched its new website; strengthened database sharing between Georgetown and two sub registries in Berbice and Essequibo and developed the Guyana e-Registry system.
Minister Williams said that for 2019, there are plans to have the e-Registry system operational and accessible to the general public with the “beneficial ownership register” in place. It would ensure the digitisation and uploading of all company documents into the database and the implementation of the “secure transaction regime and Moveable Property Security Act”.

Meanwhile, the three Deeds Registry in Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo, together accumulated $725,255,405 in revenue to the state between January to October the 2018.
The minister referred to this year’s earning as “a productive year” compared to the previous years’ earning between the same periods of $683,888,000. At the land registry, Williams reported that the previously experienced “backlog” is now a “thing of the past” as matters are now being dealt with in a timely manner.

“When we took office this was the most heavily criticised institution of the State…for the most part, the registry has been achieving a ‘two week’ time span after date of filing, for delivery of titles,” the minister updated.

“Excellence of service has been the watch word of the registry and towards this end, there have been some major developments, namely—the registers in the registry both Georgetown and Berbice have been scanned and the process of uploading same to the main system, restoration of registers has been completed.” During the period there were 1,413 transfers; 236 re-issued titles; 1,393 mortgages and 4,041 miscellaneous.

The legal affairs minister added that the by 2019, each member of staff at the head office branch will be able to access the digitised records, thereby providing responses to queries.