Demerara Bank Limited (DBL) opened its second branch in Berbice on Monday, this time at Number 78 Village, Corriverton, with promises of maintaining its policy of providing services of an “exceptional nature” and to “work with everyone.”
At the commissioning ceremony, chaired by Chandra Gajraj, a director, Chairman of DBL Yesu Persaud expressed optimism that the bank would do well, noting that DBL is the first indigenous local private sector bank in Guyana.
A senior employee of the branch told this newspaper just before the official midday opening that the bank had opened its doors for business from the morning and had already attracted 15 customers.
Among those present at the function were Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, Chief Executive Officer Pravinchandra Dave, other directors Komal Samaroo, Hemraj Kissoon, Dr. Leslie Chin and Hans Barrow.
The other Berbice branch is located at Rose Hall Town, Corentyne and Persaud said that two other major branches which would be strategically located, “have been planned” before the end of the year and by next year.
He said that the idea of setting up the bank at Corriverton came about 18 months ago and they immediately got down to work.
The bank is situated in front of Paraton Inn, owned by the Parsaram brothers and Persaud thanked them “for making the space available in this beautiful, centralized location.”
According to Persaud the licence for setting up the branch was initially rejected and after it was finally approved they fulfilled their promises of providing a number of services.
He observed that in 2002 there was “collusion in certain circles because of a perception at the time that I had done certain things in the political arena which did not please certain people.”
As a result, he said, there was a concerted effort “to have a run on DBL but it never succeeded.” He is proud that since then the bank has grown and has a history of profitability and “we have done exceedingly well.”
In delivering the feature address, the Minister of Finance recalled that the DBL played a pioneering role in introducing debit cards with Money Master Cards.
He said the bank which launched its internet banking technology was among the first to facilitate access to international credit cards and telebanking.
He told the gathering that, “We meet at a time when the global, regional and domestic economies are all facing great challenges.”
He noted that the price of crude oil had risen from US$12.49 a barrel in August 1998 to US$146.
He said just last January the price was US$53.40 and since then the price has increased by more than 173%.
According to the minister the prices for wheat have moved from US$107.95 per tonne ten years ago to as much as US$439.72 in March this year. He said too that ten years ago the price for corn which was US$88.36 per tonne was increased to US$165.10 in January last year and from June this year to US$287.11.
Touching on fuel prices, the minister said that Guyana’s fuel import bill has risen from US$72M in 1998 to US$284.6M last year, and is likely to exceed US$400M this year.
Fuel import bill
He also pointed out that the fuel import bill in the first half of this year exceeded the country’s export earnings from bauxite, sugar, rice, and timber combined. However, government has taken steps to cushion the impact by zero-rating the value added tax (VAT) on food and other basic items, reducing fuel taxes, subsidizing flour and providing US$30M to the Guyana Power & Light for expanded generating capacity and fuel conversion of existing generators.
A further $3.7B cash, Dr Singh said, was approved in Parliament last Thursday.
The minister said he is confident that the prospects for Guyana as well as Berbice are currently very bright. With regard to Berbice the minister said that historically government has been able to “harness (an) alternative source of energy” through bagasse [that would have previously been wasted] for co-generation and for use in the national grid.
The economic prospects for Berbice [and the country as a whole] are very bright with the almost completed Skeldon Sugar Modernization Plant, the Berbice River Bridge and with the exploration for oil on the Corentyne.
He noted too that, “The acquisition of the Berbice River bauxite operations by global aluminum giant RUSAL has rejuvenated the industry and paves the way for the very real possibility of advancing to the establishment of an alumina refinery.”
He also mentioned that with the opening of the Berbice River Bridge and the completion of the New Amsterdam to Moleson Creek road, “the economic integration of East Berbice with the rest of Guyana will be rapid.”
He said while global food prices have been going up there is a potential of increasing production of sugar, rice, aquaculture and other products and urged persons to take advantage of the opportunities.
