-shows Guyana is an attractive investment destination, AG says

AS commerce in Guyana continues to burgeon, the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority (DCRA) has seen its work expanded exponentially resulting in massive revenue increases that saw the institution collecting over $400 million in 2022.

The growth continues to balloon even further, and as of the first quarter of this year, the registry has already surpassed the total revenue collected in 2022, according to Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.

“It shows the volume of business that is going on in the country [and] by the end of April this year, we had already surpassed the total amount of revenue that was generated last year,” Nandlall commented in a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

Nandlall had also spoken about the achievement during his remarks at a public meeting on Sunday evening at Non Pariel, East Coast Demerara. At the time, he was highlighting the massive developments that are taking place across Guyana.

“We now are the most attractive investment destination in this hemisphere. Every day new companies are operating here. Last year, the company registry saw growth of $400 million in revenue, and up to April of this year we have already surpassed that. That is to tell you the number of companies that are being registered in Guyana. Now when these companies open operations and they start to do their work here, who will benefit? It is the people of our country that will have to benefit; it is us who will be employed by these agencies,” Nandlall related.

Established under the Deeds Registry Act Chapter 5:01, the DCRA falls under the Ministry of Legal Affairs, and is responsible for administering the laws related to land, whether by way of transport, leases, mortgages, as well as those laws relating to trademarks, patents and designs, geographical indications, copyrights, trade unions, companies, partnership, business names, powers of attorney, bills of sale contracts and other deeds.

During Saturday’s public meeting, Nandlall emphasised the DCRA statistics to drive home the point of the need for Guyanese to ensure that they are upskilled and are growing their capacity to meet the human resource demand needs that are being created across the country.

“We have to recognise that we have to train our people. At the end of the day, we have to ensure that you are qualified. We can’t force the people to hire unqualified people. The law says they are free to hire foreigners if we don’t have qualified locals, so we have to ensure that each of you are qualified. Right now, on the level of the government, we have thousands of vacancies for everyone here who needs a job,” Nandlall said.

Nandlall warned that as the demand for labour continues to surpass the available supply, the government will be left with no option but to look beyond Guyana’s shores.

With that said, he used the opportunity to reassured the public that using Guyanese first will continue to remain a priority.

“In the next 20 years, we will not get enough people to work in this country. We have to import people but our government’s first priority is Guyanese, and therefore we want to ensure that all of you are properly qualified and properly positioned to reap the benefits of the development and transformation taking place in our country,” Nandlall said.