Highinterestratesonloans‘killing’...

Frompage8 has helped launch eight successful Guyanese agricultural-technology start-ups working in sectors addressing food loss, agricultural waste management, crop health, and natural medicinal skin treatments Additionally, since 2021, EDF has supported the growth and development of 30 Guyaneseagro-processors.

EDF’s beneficiaries includes finalists and winners of the Guyana Innovation Prize, a pre-seed grant to commercialize breakthrough research in agro-processing that is combined with technical support from faculty, students, and alumni of Guyana’s tertiary educationalinstitutions.

Problemathand

According to the IDB, the problem that is being addressedwiththisprojectis the financial exclusion of microenterprisesinGuyana.

It pointed out that a majorhindranceisaccessto credit. The IDB said access to loans in Guyana is weak compared to the region

While the number of loans per 1,000 adults in Guyana increasedfrom42in2005to 89in2018,thebanksaidthe regions’ averages were 328 per1,000adultsin2005and 540in2018.

C u r r e n t l y , microenterprises can seek access to funding via Guyana’s Small Business Bureau (SBB), which providesonetimeonlynonreimbursablegrantsofupto USD 2,500 for business development,ortheInstitute for Private Enterprise Development (IPED), the c o u n t r y ’s l a r g e s t microfinance institution, for loansofuptoUSD3,750.

The IDB noted that data from 2020 reveals that G u y a n a ’s l a r g e s t microfinance institution

IPED and SBB are reaching less than 1% of Guyana’s microenterpriseswithmicro loans and grants. The IDB said the financial exclusion and associated stagnation of Guyana’s microenterprise sector are attributable to a rangeofinterrelatedfactors, but most significantly is the fact that interest rates charged by lenders are high due to operational costs and the absence of easily convertedcollateral/security inmostmicroenterpriseloan transactions. Another factor is that microenterprise b u s i n e s s o w n e r s demonstrate low levels of formalbusinessskills,which inturnincreaselenders’risk perceptionsandpricing. least 58 people in a Shi’ite Muslim mosque during Fridayprayers.

W h e r e a s m o s t microfinance institutions in the region charge interest rates of between 20 and 45%, the IDB said IPED as the largest microfinance institution in Guyana offers unsecured working capital financing (up to USD3,750) at interest rates that are as highas52%.

The bank said this is a b a r r i e r t o m a n y microenterprises seeking financeforbusinessgrowth.

It was further noted that high interest rates and the resulting low levels of lendinginGuyanaaretiedto lenders’ perceptions of the likelihood of micro and small business failure and microenterprises’ lack of adequatecollateral.

K a i e t e u r N e w s understands that the high interest rates charged by microfinance and other lendersinGuyanaarefurther driven by high operating costs, expected loan losses (credit and operational risks), a desire for a determined level of profit, borrowers’ low levels of education and businessknow how; and lack of adequate collateral and substitutes.

TheIDBprojecthopesto improvethisstateofaffairs.

Peshawar, which straddles the edge of Pakistan’s tribal districts bordering Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Islamist militant groups including Islamic State and the Pakistani Taliban.

‘ALLAH IS THE GREATEST‘

Khawaja Asif told Geo TV thatthebomberwasstanding in the first row of worshippers. “As the prayer leader said ‘Allah is the greatest’, there was a big bang,” Mushtaq Khan, a policeman with a head wound, told reporters from hishospitalbed.

“We couldn’t figure out what happened as the bang was deafening. It threw me outoftheveranda. Thewallsandrooffellon me.ThankstoGod,hesaved me.”

The explosion brought downtheupperstoreyofthe mosque, trapping dozens of worshippers in the rubble. Live TV footage showed rescuers cutting through the collapsed rooftop to make their way down and tend to victims caught in the wreckage.