Pres Ali urges Bank of Baroda to finance small businesses

– as it opens new headquarters

President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has called on the Bank of Baroda to put more of its parent company’s global capital into Guyana’s local market, particularly into small businesses.

He made the remarks on Friday evening as he officially inaugurated the bank’s new headquarters at Carmichael and Quamina Streets, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, in its 60th year of operations here.

When President Ali took office in 2020, the bank was looking to leave the Guyanese market.

It is now expanding here.

He said one of his first tasks as Head of State was to keep both Bank of Baroda and Scotiabank in Guyana.

President Ali explained that involved meetings at the level of the presidency and with the Minister of Finance.

“I’m much happier standing here launching this new headquarters with you than just six years ago in 2020, listening to you wanting to exit the market. It’s a completely different day today,” the president said.

President Ali said the government is working with commercial banks, through the Guyana Development Bank (GDB), to provide additional financing of up to $10 million for qualifying businesses.

He described this as an important opportunity for institutions such as the Bank of Baroda.

“Small business lending can be good banking,” President Ali said, stating that, “It is the thousands of smaller enterprises, the entrepreneurs, the manufacturers, the farmers, the service providers, the contractors, and the retailers who create the economic depth and resilience that allow growth to endure.”

He said commercial banks have been very responsive to the policy, and that government and banks have never worked so closely together.

The head of state also said government will soon announce major projects linked to national and regional energy security.

Institutional investors and ordinary Guyanese families will be able to invest their savings in these projects.

“A priority of the government is to allow savings to work in the interest of the people, not in the interest of the bank alone,” he said.

On financial inclusion, he noted that 79 per cent of people worldwide own a bank account, while cell phone ownership in low- and middle-income countries stands at 85 per cent.

The government is now investing in a national payment system and digital platform to reach every family through their phones.

“Once we complete this project, overnight, the financial architecture, the financial system, financial inclusion, the services of the banking sector will reach across the country and add to the GDP,” he said.

President Ali said Guyana’s banking sector is well placed to grow.

At the end of 2025, the capital adequacy ratio stood at about 17 per cent, well above the regulatory minimum; liquid assets made up about 46 per cent of total assets; non-performing loans fell to about 1.3 per cent of total loans and private sector credit grew by about 19 per cent.

In the first half of 2026, domestic credit grew by 15.5 per cent and private sector credit by 11.5 per cent.

Real estate mortgages rose by 21.2 per cent and lending to the services sector by 8.1 per cent.

He noted that these increases are measured against last year’s already strong figures.

Meanwhile, President Ali also pointed to a US$500 million credit facility recently agreed with India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The facility will fund defence, health and infrastructure, mainly roads that open new lands for housing, agriculture and manufacturing. He said Bank of Baroda will play a very important role in it.

The bank received its licence to operate in Guyana in January 1966, months before Independence. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of its parent bank in 1999 and opened its Mon Repos branch in 2012.

“Let this new headquarters become a centre from which new businesses are financed, new partnerships are forged, new entrepreneurs are empowered, and new opportunities are created,” President Ali said.

The ceremony included the unveiling of a plaque at the new Head Office and Georgetown Branch, a ceremonial lamp lighting, and the opening of the bank’s Heritage Gallery.

Remarks were also delivered by Mr Mohit Bhakuni, Managing Director of Bank of Baroda (Guyana) Inc; Dr Debadatta Chand, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Baroda; and Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Chinmoy Naik.