– prompts business-owners to always be innovative in order to attain success

AS the world continues to evolve, Guyana must become a major hub for financial services within the next two years, according to President Dr Irfaan Ali.

The president made the remarks during his feature address at the commissioning of Demerara Bank’s $485 million branch at Leonora on the West Coast Demerara on Friday.
“Two years from now, with the modernisation of the financial sector, Guyana must become a major hub for financial services. Financial services are not only about cash… it’s human assets to provide financial services,” Dr Ali stated.

Furthermore, the President shared the recipe to success – innovation, reorientation and integration.

The Head-of-State remarked: “There are three things I want to speak about in relation to the bank; innovation, reorientation and integration. These are three things that are elements of success in today’s business. If you cannot innovate, you are going to fail.”

Reflecting on statistics from 2018, the President said: “Banks do not become successful by themselves. It is the policy framework, it is the government, it is the fiscal planning and if you look at one indicator in September 2018, our non-preforming was almost 12 per cent; our non-performing loan now is just three per cent.”

Dr Ali noted that in the coming years, the buildings established to support the banking sector will be known as ‘back offices’ as the country pursues newer technologies.

“Two [to] five years from now, these buildings will be converted into what will be known as back offices. You’ll have faceless banks, but you’ll have the people in there; you won’t see them, but they will be doing the important back-office work. But much more important than that, this building will be providing more jobs, because we will create the infrastructure for near-shoring and financial services,” President Ali explained.

Since assuming office in 2020, more than 50,000 people have become employed under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government.

With this goal coming sooner than expected, it marks a tremendous accomplishment for the PPP, which, in its 2020-2025 manifesto, promised to provide 50,000 new jobs by the end of its first term in office.

Unemployment rates in Guyana have been on a downward trajectory since 2021, and the government’s efforts to uplift the workforce are bearing fruit, according to a recent report published by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), titled Regional Overview: Global and regional economies at a crossroads.

Meanwhile, Senior Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh said Demerara Bank’s franchise has been on the forefront of private response to the government’s call in creating a booming economy for Guyana.

“You have partnered with this government on every major initiative, whether it be our low-income housing programme, whether it be our forestry revolving fund, whether it be encouraging you to roll out investments to bring banking services to communities that are underbanked,” Dr. Singh said, adding: “Demerara Bank has been at the forefront of the private sector response to the environment President Ali and his government are creating.”