Commercial banks jittery over lending to agro-processing

One of the product displays at last Friday’s agro-processing forum.

The local commercial banking sector last Friday used the Guyana Marketing Corporation-sponsored Agro-processors Forum to restate its concerns over the risks associated with lending to a weak and underdeveloped agro-processing industry.

While the Guyana Agro-processors Association had earlier told this newspaper that access to funding continued to be the Achilles Heel of the sector, Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Junior Manager, Leroy Adonis, speaking on behalf of the Guyana Association of Bankers told the forum that commercial banks cannot be expected to arbitrarily lower lending criteria set out in the local Financial Institutions Act.

Agro-processors have been amongst small businesses calling on commercial banks to