Big opportunity seen in Guyana for Jamaican businesses

(Jamaica Observer)  “Guyana is a real opportunity,” according to Keith Duncan, co-chair of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC).

With the discovery of oil, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Guyana to grow by some 86 per cent this year.

“Jamaican businesses need to figure out how we can expand our reach into the Guyana market, because there will be a lot of flows into Guyana,” Duncan told the Jamaica Observer.

“How do we as a country benefit from those flows?” Duncan asked. “Our businessmen need to look at it and really see how is it we can leverage it.”

Duncan, who is also the chief executive officer of financial group Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) and president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), was speaking at the EPOC’s quarterly press briefing at the JMMB board room in New Kingston on Wednesday (February 5).

“Guyana is a small country with a population of about 750,000 and there will be skill sets that are required to drive that growth and infrastructure that they need to build out to drive that growth,” Duncan told the Caribbean Business Report (CBR).

“Trinidad is right across the road and JMMB is in Trinidad. I know that Trinidadian businessmen have been in Guyana, because they have expertise in oil and natural gas and the National Commercial Bank (NCB) has also announced that it is looking to finance arrangements in Guyana,” Duncan said, suggesting that other financial institutions may also be looking at entering.