On November 17, 2022, The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) attended a roundtable discussion on Access to financing and the United States EXIM Bank Products relevant to the local private sector. The Government of Guyana organized the information-sharing session in collaboration with the United States (US) EXIM Bank at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.

The initiative follows the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Government of Guyana and the bank during President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s visit to Washington in July.

EXIM is the official export credit agency of the United States, the bank is small business focused and supports a variety of industries including oil and gas, manufacturing, construction and medical equipment, power generation, renewable energy, aircraft and avionics, agribusiness, wholesale/retail, renewable energy and services.

The Bank offers pre- and post-export financing, insurance, and working capital loan guarantees. Loans can start from as low as US$2000; persons approaching the bank must be connected to a US Company, and shipping of exports must be from the US.

Medium-term loans can range from two to seven (2-7) years for up to twenty-five (25) million and long-term (7-10) years greater than twenty-five (25) million. The bank also shared that loans can take between ten to twelve (10-12) weeks whereas long-term facilities can take as long as seven (7) months for the approval process, which includes due diligence, to be completed.

GCCI encourages its members to make full use of the opportunities offered by EXIM Bank. The chamber believes that the bank will play an integral role in the strategic development of Guyana at this transformative time. The facilities offered by Exim are a good substitute for invoice factoring which is not quite available within the local banking sector at this time.