The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry has seen a 35% increase in unaudited net after-tax profit for the first half of this year compared to last year, saying that despite some improvements there was also a noticeable slowdown in the economy for the first half of the year.
Chairman of the Board of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Robin Stoby, in his report in yesterday’s Stabroek News, said that the local economy had benefited last year from a surge in gold prices but that with the recent positive outlook for the US economy and a projected policy shift by the US Federal Reserve, the gold price slumped to below US$1,200 per ounce from a high of over US$1800 per ounce.
“This along with a delayed signing of a new contract with Venezuela to supply them with rice and paddy, low production of sugar in the first crop of 2013 and a National Budget that was cut by $31B, we have seen a noticeable slowdown in our
