–turns sod for new $160M branch at Leonora

THOUSANDS of Region Three residents stand to benefit from the ease of access to the types of services offered by the Demerara Bank, which on Thursday turned the sod for the construction of a $160 million branch at Leonora, on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD).

The massive solar-powered facility is expected to be completed in 18 months, and is set to target the estimated 75,000 residents of the surrounding WCD communities, according to the Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Pravichandra Dave.

Speaking about the necessity of such a massive investment in Region Three (Essequibo Islands–West Demerara), Dave said that banks and other financial institutions are supposed to be the catalysts of development.

Located some 30 kilometers away from the region’s seat of administration at Vreed-en-Hoop, and another 16 kilometers away from Parika, the new facility is expected to be completed in 2023, and will be the company’s ninth branch, the eighth of which was recently opened at Mahaica, at the confluence of Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Five (Mahaica-Berbice).

As to the kind of impact the company is perceived to have on the local economy, Dave said that Demerara Bank represents $9.5 million of all the monies loaned to the agriculture sector countrywide, which, in essence, is 50 per cent of the combined $17 billion ploughed into that particular economic activity by all the local banks.

And, besides representing 57 per cent of the loans made to the mining sector, Dave said that Demerara Bank not only takes its role of being a catalyst for development seriously, but is also committed to providing financing to small and medium enterprises in other sectors.

“Our share is 40%; if I go to some other areas like transfer, transport, and communication, our share is 97%. And we are aggressively working on it,” Dave said, adding: “If you look at our deposit advances in 2017, it was around $23 billion; now it is $54 million…”

It was noted that between 2016 and 2021, the bank’s loan advances portfolio doubled from 23 million to 46 billion, while its deposits grew by 75%.

TIMELY AND NECESSARY
President Dr. Irfaan Ali lauded this massive investment, calling it timely and necessary. The president reminded those at the sod-turning exercise that the location of the new facility directly correlates with the government’s vision of creating a massive hub of development in Region Three.

“Understanding the direction in which the country is going; understanding the development agenda of the country, Demerara Bank created a vehicle to support that development agenda,” President Ali said, adding: “And it is in this context that I really want to congratulate you. Moving here also shows that you are actively working in sync with the development agenda of the country and the government.”

The Head of State reminded his audience of the usefulness of such a facility, in terms of ease of access, given the many multi-million-dollar projects being undertaken within the region that will provide opportunities for investment for Guyanese.

Noting that the government has long been looking at ways in which to work with the local banking sector in a more innovative way, President Ali explained that easily assessable banking options enable viable options for collaboration with foreign companies that are likely to come to Guyana seeking investments, and as such Guyanese must have access to financing to benefit from expansion and partnership opportunities.

Senior Minister within the Office of the President Dr. Ashni Singh noted that the financial sector is not only a bystander, stating, “The financial sector is and should be an active participant and contributor to economic growth and transformation, and that requires a particular posture in relation to facilitation and ease of credit. The provision of competitively available, readily and competitively available credit is an essential part of any modern economy, and financial institutions have an important role to play in ensuring the ready access to and affordable access to credit.”

Dr. Singh noted that with the massive transformation of the Guyanese economy, the choice of West Demerara is a particularly strategic choice for which the bank is to be complimented.

“You would know that as a result of several deliberate policy choices, our government, under President Ali’s leadership, we’ve embarked on not only a sectoral diversification of economic growth, but a geographical and spatial diversification of economic growth,” he stated.