Business

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With the Old Metal Dealers’ Act having just been amended to grant government the power to halt the trade in scrap metal, local dealers are pondering the implications of the amended legislation for the future of an industry which they say provides a livelihood for more than 30,000 Guyanese.

Banks DIH Ltd is currently engaged in discussions with the West Indies Rum and Spirit Producers Association (WIRSPA) aimed at helping the company emulate the highly successful local and regional marketing success of its rum products in North America and Europe according to the Company’s Rum Factory Executive Robert Sugdeo.

Like most local business houses contemplating the implications of the January 1, 2007 introduction of the new Value Added and Excise Tax, Bryden and Fernandes Inc, one of the country’s largest distributors of household and food products is cautious about its business projections for the year ahead.

With Cricket World Cup 2007 now just two months away the financial crisis gripping the Georgetown City Council continues to cast a huge pall of uncertainty over the likely success of what is clearly a “last ditch” effort to at least render the capital presentable for the Guyana leg of the world’s largest international cricket tournament.

I strongly believe that company executives in Guyana do not spend enough time on developing our local human capital.

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Although the government had said prior to the implementation of Value Added Tax (VAT) that the initial phase of the exercise was unlikely to pass without some hiccups, one wonders whether even the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) had anticipated the widespread and animated public response and the level of general concern that has ensued.

Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

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Earlier this week the Guyana Revenue Authority and sections of the local private sector- specifically the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce- clashed head-on over the implementation of the new Value Added Tax (VAT) with both sides trading accusations about the veracity of each other’s actions.

Chairman of Banks DIH Ltd Clifford Reis says in his report on the performance of the company for the year ended September 30, 2006 that the failure of the Government of Guyana to honour its obligations for the repayment of bonds to Citizens Bank Guyana Inc was the primary reason for the less than anticipated level of after tax profit achieved by the bank in 2006.

There is a distinct air of worry about the demeanour of some of the leading players in the country’s forestry sector.

The controversy between the Interim Management Com-mittee of the Linden Mayor and Town Council and the Kashif and Shanghai Organization over the payment to the Council of fees for the staging of the 2007 Linden Town Week may rob the entire community of the economic benefits that could derive from the successful staging of the event, according to Director of the Kashif and Shanghai Organization Kashif Mohammed.

The third phase of a project initiated by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds that seeks to create a commercial honey-producing capacity among residents of the Upper Mazaruni has been completed according to Project Coordinator Linden Stewart.

Last time we saw that Government initiatives to automate and streamline its services fell into three classifications viz.,

Basically, every organization, from a one person start-up to multibillion dollar conglomerates, is at some phase of a business growth or development cycle.

Exports of non-traditional agricultural produce increased last year over the previous year by 165 tonnes contributing US$6 million ($1.2 billion) to the country’s export earnings.

Notes 1 – Interim results 2 – Prospective EPS: earnings per share for 12 months period to the date the latest financials have been prepared.

Projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Ministry of Finance in Trinidad and Tobago on the contribution that Value Added Tax (VAT) will make to total revenue collection in 2006 indicate that VAT could account for as much as 14.3 per cent of revenue collected in 2006.