GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – With U.S. dollar shortages hitting the local market hard, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo is sounding the alarm—and foreign-owned businesses are in the crosshairs. At a press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo named Trinidadian and Chinese companies as possible culprits behind the mounting pressure on Guyana’s foreign exchange reserves.
According to the Vice President, some of the biggest players in the import sector—particularly firms from Trinidad and China—are missing from official bank records related to foreign currency purchases. That absence, he said, is raising serious red flags.
“The banks know who they’re selling money to,” Jagdeo told reporters. “But many of these companies doing business here aren’t even showing up in the official requests. That tells us something is off.”
He suggested that these businesses may be operating in a shadow market, importing goods through formal channels and reselling them to others without officially buying U.S. dollars through the banking system.
Even more troubling, Jagdeo hinted at gold smuggling and black-market forex dealings as other contributors to the problem. “We’ve heard people are buying gold and exporting,” he said, pointing to a past case involving members of a so-called “Chinese ring” who were charged with illegal activity.
Authorities, including the Guyana Revenue Authority and the country’s security services, are now investigating several angles. Jagdeo emphasized that the intent isn’t to unfairly target anyone, but to protect Guyana’s economic stability and ensure that foreign exchange is used to support local businesses and growth.
“All of this is being examined… not because we are targeting anyone,” Jagdeo said, “but because our duty is to ensure that the resources in our financial system are being used for legitimate purposes.”
The situation is already impacting the average Guyanese. At cambios this week, U.S. dollars were being bought for GY$220 and sold for GY$223, while bank rates hovered between GY$200 and GY$216.25. Despite two interventions by the Bank of Guyana this year, the supply crunch has persisted. One regional bank reportedly has a US$90 million backlog on currency requests.
Jagdeo, who previously served as Finance Minister, said the government’s increased scrutiny is focused on ensuring fairness in the market and cracking down on any underground operations that may be distorting the foreign exchange system.
With demand for U.S. dollars skyrocketing and suspicions swirling, all eyes are now on how regulators—and the businesses under scrutiny—will respond in the coming weeks.
