President Bharrat Jagdeo has hailed the enthusiasm commercial banks in Guyana have shown in extending services to other parts of the country, but has called for consideration to be given to the East Coast of Demerara, which for years has not benefited from the presence of such a facility.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Gy$700 million branch of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) at Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara on Wednesday, President
Jagdeo said: “I wonder why, for so many years, from Georgetown to Rosignol, we still don’t have a bank; and that’s 70 miles and you have some of the largest communities in the country.”
The new GBTI branch is the first of three banks located next to each other on the outskirts of Diamond to be commissioned. The other two are Republic and Demerara banks. In addition to improving the aesthetics of the community, the financial institutions will be providing dependable services to the rapidly developing Grove/Diamond residential community, and will also augment the range of services on the East Bank corridor, where thousands of new house lots will be developed.
Government recently acquired land from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to make avilable 15,000 house lots, covering a stretch from Agricola to Diamond, available. President Jagdeo however, expressed the hope that the banks show the same level of exuberance to reach out to the East Coast corridor which he said is home to some of the largest income-earning communities in Guyana.
“They (East Coast) also need to benefit from similar facilities that we have here, and maybe there should be a protocol among the banking institutions… maybe they should spread their efforts, so they have larger communities with more viable forms of banking in those communities,” President Jagdeo said.
The new Diamond office follows the commissioning of the GBTI Providence and
Grove branches in March 2007 and November 2008 respectively, and comes five months after its Gy$2.6 billion corporate office was opened in Kingston.
In January 2011, construction of the GBTI Lethem branch will commence.
President Jagdeo commended the way in which commercial banks have generated a significant degree of energy, and expressed the hope that the banking sector reaches the stage where the system of banking becomes more advanced and easier for customers to utilise.
“I hope that there would be a time in Guyana where these buildings are going to be used minimally, or for other purposes because we’d have electronic web-based banking done more often,” President Jagdeo said.
Government is pushing computer literacy across the country, with 2015 set as the year when all Guyanese will be computer literate, President Jagdeo is optimistic that all Guyanese will be banking from the comfort of their own homes.
