– paving way for October 5 launch

SENIOR Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh on Wednesday signed the Commencement Order to operationalise the Guyana Development Bank. The Order was then Gazetted. This marks another critical step in the institution’s journey to establishment, following the recent announcement by His Excellency President Dr. Irfaan Ali that the Bank would be launched on October 5, 2026.
The Guyana Development Bank Bill was successfully piloted by Dr. Singh in the National Assembly on July 27, 2026, and assented to by President Ali on July 30, 2026, paving the way for a new wave of Guyanese entrepreneurship to be unlocked. A first tranche of US$100 million ($20 billion) would be injected at start-up, representing half of the Bank’s authorised capital of $40 billion.
The Bank is expected to transform the financing landscape for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs in Guyana, especially to the benefit of women, youth, and persons with disabilities, offering zero-interest loans of up to $3 million with no collateral required.
Mentorship and training services would also be provided to ensure beneficiaries are equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills to run successful businesses.
Under a co-financing arrangement, borrowers would be able to unlock additional financing of up to $7 million from traditional lending institutions, at favourable interest rates. Further, the Bank’s operational structure would facilitate the creation of consortia among beneficiaries, providing opportunities for scaling, specialisation, and risk-sharing.
Principles of transparency, accountability and sustainability are hard coded into the Bank’s operational framework through relevant legislative provisions. In this regard, strategic direction would be provided by a Board with members suitably qualified across the fields of finance, economics, banking and law, with the latitude to execute broad management functions. Importantly, the Bank’s legal architecture was also designed with a view to promoting effective risk management and fostering institutional continuity. The entity’s financial records would be subject to annual examination by the Auditor General, and an annual report on operations would have to be prepared and presented to the people and National Assembly of Guyana.
Establishment of the Guyana Development Bank is unfolding within a context of rapidly expanding credit, robust and improving credit quality, and growing financial inclusivity. Both private sector credit and commercial bank deposits more than doubled between end-2020 and end-2025, while non-performing loans plummeted from 10.8 percent to 1.3 percent. Since October 2024, more than 179,000 new bank accounts were established, with almost 60,000 opened between April and August 2026 alone, reflecting Government’s ongoing efforts to simplify the process of setting up accounts.
Previous PPP/C Administrations have over the years advanced various institutions and initiatives to facilitate financing and other support for local businesses, headlined by the Small Business Bureau, and a partnership with IDB Invest. Since 2020, the former has disbursed grants, disability loans, guarantees and other services to the tune of more than $2.7 billion, while under the latter, business financing of more than US$260 million was secured. The Guyana Development Bank would build on these predecessor initiatives by spurring a massive scaling up of small business financing and service support, especially among groups historically underserved by the traditional banking sector. The institution is also intended to serve as a main pillar of Government’s economic diversification strategy, with target sectors spanning agro-processing, manufacturing, tourism, services, and technology, among others.

The Guyana Development Bank’s establishment reflects the PPP/C Government’s commitment to fostering financial empowerment and inclusion among Guyanese individuals and households, and marks the fulfilment of another important manifesto promise. It represents another avenue through which Government intends to ensure every Guyanese has the opportunity to fully participate in the country’s ensuing economic transformation.