The Government of Guyana is currently working to develop a Secured Transaction Framework (STF) to enhance the credit environment in Guyana. This framework will comprise legislation, regulations and institutional arrangements to help facilitate the use of moveable property as collateral for business and consumer lending.
The development of the secured transaction framework is one of several actions which seek to improve the ease of doing business. This sort of framework strengthens the degree to which collateral laws protect the rights of borrowers and lenders and thus enhance the facilitation of lending. Well-functioning secured transactions systems enable businesses to use their assets as security to generate capital—from cattle being used as collateral for a tractor loan, to pledging the cash flow from customer accounts as collateral for business expansion. The introduction of supporting legislation and the development of an electronic registry system to register and publish security interests assigned by borrowers to creditors will provide a comprehensive and effective mechanism for securing credit.
Draft legislation known as the “Moveable Property Security Act of Guyana” has already been prepared and has benefited from a consultative workshop with various stakeholders. The legislation is designed to promote consistency and certainty in secured financing relating to movable assets. It should be noted, however, that the decision to accept movable assets as collateral will remain with the bank or lender based on their own risk assessment.
