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Washington, D.C., February 3, 2011
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, welcomed Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited to its Global Trade Finance Program at a signing ceremony on Wednesday, February 2nd in Georgetown, Guyana. Through the program, the bank will expand access to trade finance for local small and medium enterprises.
IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program supports trade in emerging market countries by providing partial or full guarantees for individual trade transactions, through an effective mitigation instrument, the IFC’s triple-A credit rating.
By joining IFC’s trade program as an issuing bank, Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry, which has a rich and successful history of more than 160 years, will be able to expand its trade finance solutions to small and medium enterprises operating in key export and import sectors.
“We are extremely pleased to join IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program,” said John Tracey, Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry. “This facility will enhance our ability to serve our customers and increase trade flows that generate prosperity for our country and our economy.”
Jun Zhang, IFC Country Manager for the Caribbean region, said, “We welcome Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry to our program. This first-time trade investment in Guyana shows IFC’s ability to provide integrated solutions for financing importers and exporters and a commitment to supporting Guyana’s financial market.” Zhang noted that IFC also intends to offer advisory services in collaboration with partners like the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program issued more than $3.3 billion dollars in guarantees to facilitate trade flows in Latin America and the Caribbean since the program’s inception in the region in 2006. IFC’s network includes 55 issuing banks in 20 countries in the region. Nearly 70 percent of the guarantees issued benefited local small and midsize businesses and supported interregional trade flows between emerging-market nations. The program has issued $9.2 billion in guarantees worldwide. Latin America and the Caribbean has been the most active region for the past three fiscal years, representing about a third of the program’s global volume.
For more information about the program, contact Antonio Alves, Senior Regional Head of Trade Finance for Latin America and the Caribbean, at
Aalves1@ifc.org
, or visit
www.ifc.org/gtfp
.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We do so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and supply essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable development. In a time of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18 billion in fiscal 2010. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited
The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited was established in May 1836 as Colonial Bank, the first commercial bank in British Guiana. The bank was reincorporated under the Colonial Bank Act 1925 as a result of its merger with the National Bank of South Africa Limited and the Anglo-Egyptian Bank Limited, and its names changed to Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas). The name was shortened to Barclays Bank D.C.O. in 1954 and changed to Barclays Bank International Ltd in 1971. In 1985, the bank was registered as a public company and became known as Barclays PLC. For more information, visit
www.gbtibank.com
.
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