Total land area:.................... 196,850 sq. km.
Official language:................... English. (Amerindian dialects
and Guyanese Creole also
spoken).
Administrative divisions:........ Ten regions
Legal system:....................... Based on English Common
law, with certain admixtures
of Roman-Dutch law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction.
Executive branch:.................. Presidnet is chief of state, prime
minister is head of government.
Cabinet of Ministers is appointed by the president and
responsible to the legislature.
Legislative branch:.................Unicameral National Assembly (65
seats, 53 popularly elected;
members serve five-year terms).
Judicial branch:......................Supreme Court of Judicature
ECONOMIC PROFILE
Currency: Guyanese dollar (G$)
GDP: US$0.6338 billion (1997)
Real GDP growth: 6.2 (1997p)
GDP (average annual growth rate): 3.7 (1988-1997)
GDP per capita (1990 US$): 742.5 (1997)
Consumer price index (average annual growth rate): 4.2 (1997)
Central government fiscal balance (% of current GDP): -4.6 (1997)
Money supply (M1) (% of current GDP): 14.2 (1997)
Interest rate (three-month nominal deposits at commercial banks): 8.6
(1997p)
Current account balance: -US$0.0684 billion (1997)
Trade balance: -US$0.244 billion (1997)
Main exports: Sugar, gold, bauxite/alumina, rice, shrimp, molasses
Main imports: Manufactures, machinery, petroleum, food
Nominal exchange rate (G$/US$) end of period: 144 (1997)
Real effective exchange rate (Index 1990=100): 90.2 (1997)
BANKING SYSTEM
Total number of banks in the system: 7
Types of banks: Commercial
Total amount of assets: US$94.3 billion
Total amount of deposits: US$74.3 billion
Total amount of capital or net worth: US$16.6 billion
BANKING INSTITUTIONS
I. Banking Supervision
1. The Bank of Guyana
is responsible for bank supervision.
2. The Bank of Guyana
is an independent agency
3. The Bank of Guyana
consults the Ministry of Finance in certain instances, such
as in the approval and revocation of licenses.
4. Banks are scheduled
for inspection at least once every 18 months. Branches
of banks are scheduled for inspection at least once every three
years.
5. As of yet, there
are no formal ratings or grades used to report bank examination
results.
6. The CAMEL system
is used when examining licensed financial institutions
(banks and non-banks) in order to determine the safety and soundness of
the
financial institution. The department is gradually incorporating risk management
as part of the criteria examined.
II. Consolidated Supervision
1. Comprehensive supervision
is performed on a consolidated basis on all locally
incorporated banks and their branches. Currently, there are no locally
incorporated
banks with branches or subsidiaries outside the country.
2. Consent is required
to open but not to close a branch in a foreign country.
3. Prior consent from
the home country is not needed to open or close a foreign
branch in Guyana. However, Guyana seeks to obtain any information from
the
home country that may have an impact on the decision as to whether to approve
an application.
4. Information can
be gathered from cross-border banking establishments for
consolidated monitoring and off-site surveillance, among other reasons.
III. Interest Rates
1. The market defines
interest rates on loans. They are pegged to the prime-lending
rate charged by the Central Bank for rediscounting eligible paper and granting
loans to commercial banks.
2. The market defines
interest rates on deposits, with the 91-day treasury bill
discount rate used as a benchmark for interest rates on certain categories
of deposits.
IV. Deposit Insurance
1. Guyana has no system
of deposit insurance.
2. Not applicable
V. Trade Finance
1. Guyana defines
trade finance as credit extended to finance investment in export,
import, pre-export, working capital, capital goods, letters of credit,
acceptances
and drafts.
2. The sovereign does
not bear the risk of trade finance vehicles.
3. There is no specific
treatment for the listed trade financing vehicles. The bank
or an appointed administrator or liquidator is guided by the Financial
Institutions
Act of 1995 (No. 1 of 1995).
4. No specific provisions
or reserves are made for trade financing obligations during
liquidation. Any required provision should be fully booked prior to liquidation.
VI. Capital Adequacy
1. The minimum capital
required to open a bank is $250 million Guyana dollars.
2. The minimum capital
required to operate a bank could be greater than $250
Guyana dollars, depending on the solvency level of the bank.
3 Capital adequacy
is measured using the Basle minimum standards. Capital
adequacy is measured against risk-weighted assets.
VII. Asset Quality
1. Guyana has the
following loan classification:
Loan Classification
Definition
% of Reserves
Pass
condition sound, adequate
0
documentation, unimpaired
collateral
Special Mention
could deteriorate, adequate
0
documentation collateral not
in place
Substandard
well-defined credit weaknesses,
20
primary source of repayment
is inadequate
Doubtful
collection improbable, but
50
some factors exist which
could improve the situation
Loss
account unrecoverable, or
100
recovery impractical
2. There are no minimum
reserve requirement on bank assets
3. Generally, a licensed
financial institution is not allowed to extend credit in excess
of 25% of its capital base to a single borrower, or 40% of its capital
base in the
case of a borrower group. Where any portion of the credit extended is unsecured,
that portion shall not exceed 10% of its capital base in the case of a
single borrower
group. There are also limitations pertaining to directors and related interests
and to
employees and officials of a licensed financial institution.
4. The investment
portfolio is not required to be categorized according to criteria such
as hold-to-maturity portfolio, available-for-sale portfolio, or trade portfolio.
5. Investment categories
and their valuation are not applicable.
6. The valuation of
the investment portfolio does not affect the profit and loss statement.
VIII. Liabilities
1. Reserves on liabilities are as follows:
Liabilities
Minimum Reserve Requirement
Demand deposits
16
Time deposits
14
Short-term borrowing
16
Long-term borrowing
14
Deposits in local currency }
Deposits in foreign currency } depends on the duration, either
percentage
Others
} would be applicable
2. Banks can offer any type of deposit in local or foreign currency.
3. There is no limit on the amount of deposits a bank can accept.
4. There is no limit on the level of concentration for specific types of
deposits,
such as broker deposits and affiliate deposits.